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Copy 1 


SANITARY and TENEMENT 
HOUSE INSPECTOR 

Examination Instruction 


310 QUES. AND ANS. 

and Specimen Examination Questions for 

INSPECTOR, CHIEF INSPECTOR OF TENEMENTS 
AND LAY SANITARY INSPECTOR 

for New York City, New Jersey and Chicago. 


History of the New York Tenement House Department and Advice to 
Inspector Candidates, BY DR. GEORGE M. PRICE—A 1916 
Digest of New York Laws and Ordinances Governing the Regula¬ 
tion of Tenements—Amendments to the Tenement House Law from 
1912 to 1916, Inclusive—Practice Questions and Answers on Laws 
and Duties by Experts of the Tenement House Department—An¬ 
swers to Civil Service Examination Questions and Specimen Ques¬ 
tions—Report Writing. 


EDITED BY JOHN L. PLEINES, 

Asst. Chief Reviewer of Old Building Violations, Tenement House 
Department, City of New York. 


PRICE, $1.25. 


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23 Duane Street, New York. 

Copyright, 1917, by Civil Service Chronicle, Inc. 























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HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK TENEMENT HOUSE 
DEPARTMENT AND ADVICE TO INSPECTOR 

CANDIDATES. 


By Dr. George M. Price. 


(Written for the Civil Service Chronicle.) 

Candidates for the position of Inspector 
in the Tenement House Department are 
expected to know the Tenement House 
Law, housing sanitation, and also to be 
more or less familiar with the tenement 
house problem and the various aspects of 
the housing question. 

The law may be studied from the text; 
housing sanitation may be studied from my 
various books on the subject. I shall, 
therefore, limit my talks to the Chronicle 
readers to the less familiar matter of the 
past and present status of the housing prob¬ 
lem and tenement house inspection particu- 
larly. 

Years ago, when I had to pass my civil 
service examination for the position of San¬ 
itary Inspector in the Health Department, 
I sought in vain for any books or instruc¬ 
tors on the subject and would have dearly 
paid for any glimpse of light bearing on 
sanitary matters. Now candidates find no 
difficulty in getting needed instruction from 
books or schools; moreover, progressive 
civil service papers go out of their way to 
assist the candidate and make the task of 
passing the examination less thorny and 
difficult. This progress in civil service edu¬ 
cation cannot but be of great benefit to can¬ 
didates, also to the civil service, by raising 
the standard of applicants and creating a 
more educated and higher class of civil 
service servants. 


I. FIRST EFFORTS IN NEW YORK 

CITY TO DEAL WITH TENEMENT 
HOUSE PROBLEM. 

New York City enjoys the distinction of 
being the only city in the world having a 
separate special city department to take 
care of tenement house construction and 
inspection. The conditions which led up 
to such a distinctive legislative action are 
peculiar and interesting. 

Bad tenement house conditions are not 
a modern evil. All great cities of antiquity 
suffered from overcrowded and congested 
housing, and in Rome especially there were 
numerous attempts to remedy the evils of 
bad tenement house conditions by legisla¬ 
tive measures, such as the limiting of height 
of houses by Augustus and appointment of 
Aedils, or inspectors, to take care of the 
supervision of the houses in the overcrowd¬ 
ed and poor sections of the cities. 


Nor is the tenement house problem in 
New York City a modern product; at least, 
we find reports by the city inspector in 
1831, lamenting the bad sanitary conditions 
of certain sections of the city due to their 
overcrowding and the conversion of old 
dwelling houses intended for one family 
into multiple tenant houses for the incom¬ 
ing horde of European immigrants. An¬ 
other report by the Association for the Im¬ 
provement of the Condition of the Poor 
complains “of the tenements which are so 
badly constructed as to preclude a proper 
supply of air, light and water.” This was 
in 1853. 

The first attempt to really inspect all bad 
tenements in the city was made in 1866 by 
the Committee on Hygiene, whose report 
upon the matter is a classic and a most 
valuable and interesting chapter in the his¬ 
tory of city sanitation. 

When the Metropolitan Board of Health 
was established in 1866, the work of tene¬ 
ment house inspection became a part of 
its duties, and, of course, could not have 
been done properly and thoroughly, owing 
to the multiplicity of the activities of the 
department, absence of legislative action 
and inadequacy of means and men. 

Still the evil was growing, and conditions 
in the poorer quarters became so appalling 
that in 1884 a commission was appointed, 
headed by Professor Felix Adler, to inves¬ 
tigate and report upon tenement conditions. 
Well do I remember Prof. Adler in the old 
Chickering Hall thundering against the ter¬ 
rible conditions which his committee found 
all over the city, especially in the then no¬ 
torious Five Points Mission section and in 
Cherry Street. 

In the winter of 1885, the Sanitary So¬ 
ciety of the Tenth Ward was organized 
with Nathan Bijur, now of the Supreme 
Court; Prof. E. R. A. Seligman of Colum¬ 
bia; Blumenthal, then Superintendent of 
the Bureau of Incumbrances; Em. Kur- 
sheedt and others, as members, with the 
purpose to investigate and inspect the tene¬ 
ments of the Tenth Ward, which had al¬ 
ready then become the distinct ghetto of the 
city. 

I became one of their inspectors—there 
were but five or six altogether—and during 
that winter and spring first became officially 
acquainted with the work of tenement in¬ 
spection and sanitation. Although still 
“green,” having been in the country less 
than three years, I had already become in¬ 
terested in the subject through Prof. Ad- 





ler’s lectures and by myself living in that II. EARLY DAYS OF THE TENEMENT 
section of the city. . HOUSE DEPARTMENT. 


Twenty-five years ago the Tenth Ward 
was much different from what it is to-day. 
There was no Seward Park then, nor were 
there the big school buildings on Hester, 
Essex and Broome Streets, and the popu¬ 
lation then was different, too. The Italians 
did not come into the district, and beyond 
Broome Street lived the Germans. Nev¬ 
ertheless the sanitary condition of the tene¬ 
ment houses was very bad, and I remember 
that in one of my inspections I found a 
family of nine together with thirteen night 
lodgers in a three-room flat. 

In spite of Prof. Adler’s efforts and the 
investigation of the Sanitary Society, no 
legislation could be gotten from the Legis¬ 
lature till 1887, when the new tenement 
house law went into effect and was a pro¬ 
gressive measure in comparison with the 
old law. At that time there were but ten 
or twelve sanitary inspectors in what is 
now Manhattan, and by the law of 1887 
the force was increased by about fifteen 
men, so that all the inspection in the city, 
not only of tenements, but of new buildings 
(there was no Building Department then), 
and all the various other factories and es¬ 
tablishments in the city, was covered by 
about twenty-five or thirty men. 

That under such conditions no real im¬ 
provement in tenement conditions was pos¬ 
sible is self-evident. Indeed, the evidence 
of the State Tenement House Commission 
of 1894, Mr. R. V. Gilder, Chairman, showed 
that the housing problem was getting veiy 
acute in the city. I was one of the inspec¬ 
tors of the Commission, and the data that 
we gathered showed over 5,000 rooms in 
the city totally without light and air. We 
found over 4,000 school sinks in yards in 
Manhattan, and the sanitary condition of 
most congested districts was appalling, the 
infant mortality in one district being over 
280 per 1,000. 


The legislation of 1895 was the result of 
the activity of the Gilder Commission, and, 
among other results, was the increase cf 
the inspectorial force of the Health De¬ 
partment. In 1895 I was appointed a San¬ 
itary Inspector of the Health Department 
and had ample opportunity to further study 
the tenement house problem from an offi¬ 
cial point. It was soon evident that, even 
with the increased force of health inspec¬ 
tors, fifty or sixty Inspectors were unable 
to cope with the growing evils of unsani¬ 
tary tenements, especially as the Inspectors 
had a great many other duties besides those 
of tenement house inspection. 

In 1900 a new Tenement House Commis¬ 
sion was appointed under presidency of R. 
W. DeForest, with Lawrence Veiller as sec¬ 
retary, and to the activity of this Commis¬ 
sion was due the enactment of the .new 
tenement house law of 1901 and the estab¬ 
lishment of a separate Tenement 
Department. 


The year 1901 marks a new era in hous¬ 
ing legislation. The tenement house leg¬ 
islation of the New York State Legislature 
in 1901 is not only remarkable for setting 
new standards for housing, but is abso¬ 
lutely unique in creating an agency for en¬ 
forcement which is entirely new and is un¬ 
known anywhere in the civilized world. 1 
refer to the creation and establishment of 
a separate municipal Tenement House De¬ 
partment in New York City. 


The Tenement Law of 1801. 

The Tenement Law of 1901 is also re¬ 
markable for the fact that it was a, great 
advance on all previous housing legislation. 
I shall here mention a few of the essential 
points of this law. 

The main features of the 1901 law are: 
(1) Increased protection against fire; (2) 
provision for more light and ventilation; 
(3) improved sanitary conditions, and (4) 
moral improvement. 

Fire Protection Features. —The following 
are a few of the essential points of fire 
protection in the law: Prohibition of cer¬ 
tain trades and occupations in tenements; 
provision for fireproof construction of all 
houses above six stories in height; intro¬ 
duction of fireproof stairways; provisions 
about increased number, better constructed 
and more efficient fire-escapes, etc. 

Light and Ventilation. —The provisions 
for increase of light and ventilation are too 
numerous to mention. Among the most im¬ 
portant are the increased space to be left 
unbuilt on each lot; the enlarged yards and 
courts; the vent-ducts, the enlarged hall¬ 
ways, the increased size of windows, halls 
and rooms, and many similar provisions. 

Sanitation. —The sanitary improvement of 
tenement houses is provided for in the abol¬ 
ition of the school sinks; enclosed water- 
closets and sinks; by compelling owners to 
put in separate toilets into each apartment; 
by the provisions about compulsory clean¬ 
ing of walls of outside shafts and other 
parts of house, inside and outside, and by 
many other similar provisions. The law 
also provided for the stringent elimination 
of tenement house prostitution, an evil 
which was very much in evidence before 
that period. 

The above notable provisions for im¬ 
proved tenement houses would, of course, 
be very beneficial and salutary, provided— 
and there is the rub—that the provisions of 
the law are properly enforced. For it is 
self-evident that we gain nothing by piling 
up our statute books with new laws if at 
the same time no provision is made for 
their proper execution and enforcement. 
Hence, the establishment of the Tenement 
House Department to enforce the provi¬ 
sions of the new Tenement House Law. 

Personally, I do not think that it was 
absolutely necessary to create a new de- 
ouse/partment for enforcement, provided they 
l-fy^sfiaid a sufficient number of inspectors. It 

m -9I9I7 @CU453580 


"Vvo \ ' 


was true that the Health Department was 
NOT doing everything to enforce the tene¬ 
ment laws and that 250 Inspectors, having 
nothing else to do but take care of tene¬ 
ment houses, would and could do more than 
sixty Health Inspectors who, besides their 
tenement house work, were expected to do 
a lot of other work, from vaccination to 
mercantile inspection. If the Health De¬ 
partment were given those 250 extra men, 
and if Mr. Veiller would have be.en put in 
as chief in a new Tenement House Bureau 
in the Health Department, I am sure we 
could get as good results and at much 
cheaper rate than by the creation of a sepa¬ 
rate Tenement House Department with a 
whole city department organization—com¬ 
missioner, deputies, chiefs, etc., etc. 

However, the powers at that time decided 
to try a new experiment in municipal sani¬ 
tation, and the success or failure of that 
experiment is not within my present task 
to consider. 

Hard Lot of the Early Inspectors. 

With the creation of the new Tenement 
House Department it became quite a prob¬ 
lem how to fill the positions of Inspector 
with suitable material. Sanitary education 
was very scarce in the city, there being no 
schools for it, nor is the subject taught at 
public or private institutions; indeed, as it 
had been amply proved, the number of 
those who were qualified to assume inspec¬ 
torial positions and who were fit for it was 
infinitesimal. 

Until 1901 there was not even a book 
specially prepared for housing inspectors, 
with the exception of a very small pam¬ 
phlet by Dr. Tracy, and of several books 
on plumbing by Gerhard. My “Handbook 
of Sanitation” was then just fresh from 
press, and how welcome it was for the hun¬ 
dreds and thousands of candidates for tene¬ 
ment inspectorships can be vouched for only 
by those whom it assisted in passing their 
examination. That the book was well pat¬ 
ronized may be vouched for also by its 
publishers, who were doing a land office 
business in its sale. 

Nevertheless, the difficulty of getting the 
right kind of Inspectors was very much felt 
at first. The heads of the department wished 
to get a “college-trained, philanthropically- 
inclined” class of applicants, and indeed a 
few of these were sent to the writer for 
preparation by the heads of the department. 
There were about 600 or 700 applicants, if 
not more, to the first examination, but very 
few of them succeeded in passing, so that 
it was necessary to hold three or four civil 
service examinations during the first year 
of the existence of the department in order 
to get the full quota of Inspectors. The 
percentage of college students, would-be 
lawyers, philanthropists, and social students 
among the first batch of appointees was 
very great, while the number of really prac¬ 
tical men was comparatively small. 

The class of Inspectors first appointed 
was, of course, of a very high intelligence, 


but the trouble was that not only were they 
not practical men, but they did not look on 
their jobs as permanent ones, their idea 
being but to tarry in them until they got 
their diplomas as lawyers, physicians, etc. 
A large number of my students of the first 
three or four examinations left the depart¬ 
ment after a year or two and are now pro¬ 
fessional men, some of them holding high 
positions as professors in colleges and some 
enjoying lucrative professional practice. 

Nor could this class of Inspectors stand 
the rigid and military discipline which the 
department heads deemed wise to inaugu¬ 
rate. So severe was the discipline, so ex¬ 
acting became the various orders, so fre¬ 
quent the “fines” for every petty sin of 
omission or commission, that a self-respect¬ 
ing man was hardly able to stand it and 
submit. Whether the policy of the depart¬ 
ment heads which was inaugurated with the 
establishment of the Tenement Department 
was right or wrong, I shall not here dis¬ 
cuss; sufficient is it here to note the un¬ 
deniable fact that many Inspectors were 
discouraged, many resigned and still more 
were dismissed for trivial and, seemingly, 
petty offenses. 

Since that time the personnel of the 
inspectorial force had been constantly 
changed, the number of practical men in¬ 
creased, the percentage of builders, plumb¬ 
ers, carpenters and other mechanics in¬ 
creased, and the discipline somewhat, al¬ 
though but slightly, relaxed. The number 
of those succeeding in passing the various 
examinations was also on the increase, I 
myself passing over two hundred candidates 
during the eight examinations from 1901 
till 1908, and a great many, of course, pass¬ 
ing by the aid of my books, or with the 
help of some schools which had sprung up 
since then. 


III. INELIGIBLES, ELIGIBLES AND 
HOW TO PREPARE. 

It is surprising how many persons there 
are in this great city who are perfectly 
willing to “sacrifice” themselves by “ac¬ 
cepting” a city position like the tenement 
house inspectorship. What is still more sur¬ 
prising is that all these people are so con¬ 
fident that they are perfectly fit for the 
position. People who have no earthly idea 
of the matter of tenement house inspection 
and whose sole knowledge of the subject 
is that they live in a tenement house, as 
well as people who are totally unfit for any 
similar position, are clamoring to get such 
a “job” in the erroneous idea that anyone 
with a strong pull may get any municipal 
position. This reminds me of a janitor who 
once applied to me for instruction in tene¬ 
ment house inspection. He had no inkling 
of what the position requires and was hard¬ 
ly able to write his name. 

Drivers, conductors, street cleaners and 
bricklayers are but a few of those who fre¬ 
quently applied to me for instruction and 



were very much astonished when they were 
told that the position requires quite some 
education, at least a good knowledge of 
English and arithmetic, besides many other 
subjects. No wonder that of the 1,500 to 
1,600 candidates who were coming up to 
each examination, there were but 100 to 
200 who succeeded in passing the very easy 
examinations held in the past. No wonder 
that of those who did pass, a great many 
were rejected by the Commissioners as to¬ 
tally unfit for the position. There is some 
deep-rooted conviction among New York¬ 
ers, probably due to past—long passed— 
political traditions, that all one needs to get 
a position in any city department is to have 
the backing of his “leader.” 

As a matter of fact, the position of Tene¬ 
ment House Inspector is not only one of 
great importance, but of much difficulty to 
fill, and requires quite a high educational 
standard as well as the knowledge of sev¬ 
eral special subjects, besides special train¬ 
ing. 

Let us see what the duties of a Tenement 
House Inspector are. 

A Tenement House Inspector may have 
to make inspections of new buildings, build¬ 
ings in the process of construction. He 
may have to compare the architect’s plans 
with the actual construction. He may have 
to measure and calculate the percentage of 
the lot built upon and that left unbuilt. 
He may have to pass on the manner of 
“damp-proofing” the foundation and cellar. 
He may have to make a “water pressure” 
test upon the installation of the plumbing... 
He may have to pass upon the construction 
of the whole house before a “license” is 
granted to the builder to permit him to 
rent the house to tenants. 

The Inspector is also supposed to make 
“house to house” inspections on the so-, 
called “I” card which require a most thor¬ 
ough and searching examination of all the 
parts of the house: Construction, condition, 
ventilation, illumination, heating and plumb¬ 
ing of the house. 

The Inspector is supposed to be able to 
detect the tricks of trade practiced by dis¬ 
honest builders, the “jokers” of some plumb¬ 
ers and the other defects likely to be found 
in “skin” and “jerry” buildings. 

The Inspector is also supposed to be able 
to measure the “angle” of the inclination 
of the fire-escape stairway, to know the 
various sizes and kinds of pipes and iron' 
used in plumbing and fire-escanes, and he 
must also be able to make a "‘smoke 1 ’ or 
“peppermint” test on plumbing. 

Besides all the foregoing, the Inspector 
is especially required, not only to make in¬ 
spections, but also to REPORT upon them. 
Now, to make a proper report sometimes 
requires more skill than to make the in¬ 
spection itself. The Inspector therefore, 
must have a good knowledge of the English 
language, and be capable of making a per¬ 
fect report of his inspections and proper 
recommendations to his superiors. 

From the above it may be inferred that 
it takes some educational and - practical 


knowledge to become an efficient Inspector 
and that not every Tom, Dick and Harry 
out of a job can successfully fill the posi¬ 
tion. As a rule, persons who had a prac¬ 
tical training in building construction are 
the most fit for inspectorships, and build¬ 
ers, plumbers and carpenters, provided they 
possess the necessary degree of education, 
are the best practical inspectors. I do not 
mean to say that the above-named artisans 
are the ONLY persons fit for inspector¬ 
ships; any man with sufficient intelligence 
and education MAY become an efficient in¬ 
spector, and indeed, many clerks, bookkeep¬ 
ers, insurance agents, etc., are known to 
me who became very good Inspectors. 

One may also infer from the above re¬ 
marks the kind of special knowledge a 
Tenement House Inspector should have, or 
rather the knowledge of a civil service can¬ 
didate for inspectorship is required to have 
for a successful passing of the examina¬ 
tion. 

Subjects Suggested for Study. 

The subjects to study are the following: 

(1) Building Construction. This embraces 
the following: Building materials, frame 
construction, fire and damp-proofing and 
general construction. 

(2) Ventilation, Illumination, Light and 
Heating. These embrace the following sub¬ 
jects: Air, methods of ventilation, devices 
for improved ventilation, natural light, ar-. 
tificial light, methods of heating, etc. 

(3) Water Supply and Drainage. These 
subjects include the composition of water, 
sources of same, impurities; methods of 
sewage disposal—immediate and final. 

(4) Plumbing. This subject is very im¬ 
portant and embraces the whole matter of 
installation of house plumbing, materials, 
joints, traps, fixtures, water-closets, defects 
and various tests. 

(5) TENEMENT HOUSE LAW. This 
is by itself the most important subject, be-' 
cause a candidate must know the law in all 
its minute, details and must understand its 
technicalities and intricacies. The study of 
the law is also the most difficult part of 
the student’s task, because the law is writ¬ 
ten by lawyers, for lawyers, and it seems 
as if it was made purposely obscure and 
unintelligible to the average lay reader. I 
found in my experience of teaching that 
the students fail mostly on the law because 
they study it by wrong methods, and have 
therefore devised an original method of its 
study simplifying the whole law and reduc¬ 
ing it to about fifty simple rules easily 
learned and easily retained by the memory. 


IV. HOW TO INSPECT A TENEMENT 
HOUSE. 

The question of how to properly inspect 
a tenement house is an important one, be¬ 
cause one-may know all about houses with¬ 
out knowing the art ofi inspection-, and be- 


i 



cause it takes years of experience to do the 
work properly. 

With the various inspection cards and 
schedules as are at present given by the 
Tenement Department, it is comparatively 
less difficult to make a good inspection than 
it was in- olden times in the Health De¬ 
partment, where one had to make the in¬ 
spection without any cards, state all viola¬ 
tions found and make the proper recom¬ 
mendation. Now all the Inspector needs to 
do is to fill out “yes” or “no” to a lot of 
questions without bothering himself about 
order or sequence or making recommenda¬ 
tions, which are filled out by special clerks. 

Nevertheless the inspection of- a house is 
a matter which even now takes some time 
to grasp and to learn all the details and 
fine points. 

Let us, for example, go through the in¬ 
spection of an ordinary tenement house 
without limiting ourselves to the printed 
cards. 

Inspection Begins Before Entering the 
House. 

The inspection of the house begins as 
soon as the Inspector approaches the prem¬ 
ises. There are quite a few items to note 
before ever entering the house. Note first 
the height of the house, number of stories, 
material of which it is built, the presence 
of fire-escapes on the front of house, their 
material, and whether the balconies are ob¬ 
structed or not. 

Inspect the condition of the sidewalk to 
see that there are no sunken pieces of stone, 
no broken parts of curb; also if the fresh 
air inlet is not obstructed, as is usually the 
case. 

Inspect also the condition of the railings 
on the front area, the condition of steps 
into the area, the state of stairs to the house, 
as well as the paving, grading and draining 
of the front area. 

Another point of importance to inspect 
before ever entering the house is the kind 
of business in the basement and store floors, 
as all these items bear an important part 
in the house inspection and are covered by 
the Tenement House Law. Here, then, are 
quite a number of points which are to draw 
the attention of the Inspector before enter¬ 
ing the house. 

Inspection From the Yard and In the Yard. 

On entering the house it was my practice 
to go through the hall and, if there was a 
yard, make no immediate inspection of the 
house, but pass out into the yard. 

Here a large number of facts must be 
noted. In the first place, one must look up 
to the rear of the house and note the fol¬ 
lowing: T v e condition of rear wall, the 
presence of fire-escapes, their material, con¬ 
dition and positions of drop-ladders; the 
material, size and condition of the rain lead¬ 
ers; the conditions of the rails of rear areas; 
the paving, -grading_ c and; draining of these 


areas, and the condition of the steps leading 
from house into yard. 

Next comes the inspection of the yard 
itself and of those fixtures which are there. 
Here one must notice, size of yard, material 
of pavement, kind of grading and how yard 
is drained, and whether there are stagnant 
pools of water in the sunken places therein. 
One must also note the condition of the 
fences surrounding the yard as well as of 
the various woodsheds, etc., which some¬ 
times encumber such yards; also of the 
presence or absence of rubbish and dirt in 
the yard. 

The fixtures which are at times found in 
the yard are the various toilet accommoda¬ 
tions. These are often of the type so often 
found in olden times: The so-called “school 
sinks,” a nasty form of trough water-clos¬ 
ets which have been condemned by all sani¬ 
tary authorities and have been legislated 
out of existence by the Tenement House 
Law of 1901, but of which you will still find 
about 2,000 in Manhattan Borough alone. 
Nor are the yard hopper-closets of the old 
style much better than the “school sinks.” 
In the words of the German poet, “die alle 
beide stiken,” and should be condemned 
wherever found. 

It is therefore noted that there are quite 
a large number of items to inspect and 
points to be noted and put down in your 
cards and note books before you ever go 
into the house itself. 

The Cellar. 

Next in order of inspection is the cellar, 
and this is probably the most important 
part of the house, as far as the Inspector 
is concerned, and as far as the points to 
be examined by the Inspector are con¬ 
cerned. 

The points to be examined in the cellar 
are the following: The occupation of the 
cellar by storage.or prohibited businesses; 
the construction of the walls and ceilings; 
the kind and condition of floor; the pres¬ 
ence of dampness; the proper ventilation 
by grating and windows; the lighting by 
day and illumination by night: the pres¬ 
ence of rubbish and dirt; the plastering of 
ceilings to decrease dangers from fires; the 
condition of the entrances and exits, and 
separation from the upper floors of the 
house. 

An important part of the cellar inspec¬ 
tion is the searching for evidence that it is 
occupied for living and sleeping purposes, 
as is frequently the case in cellars of com¬ 
mon tenement houses which harbor not 
only janitors in cellars, but also are the 
abode of a tramp or two. 

But, of course, the most important part 
of the cellar inspection lies in the plumbing 
of the house, the greater and very impor¬ 
tant part being in the cellar. 

The whole length of the house drain, the 
main feature of house plumbine\ lies with¬ 
in the precincts of the cellar, either under 
the floor, or on the floor, or above the floor. 
The house drain must be followed up from 

5 


wall to wall and carefully examined as to 
the material, size and tightness and condi¬ 
tion of its joints; also of its pitch or fall, 
and of the covers on the many handholes 
in the drain. Especially must one be care¬ 
ful to examine places at connection with 
the vertical soil, waste and rain leader pipes, 
and to see if these are properly connected 
and tight. The house drain main trap, as 
well as the connection of the fresh air in¬ 
let, must be looked into. The condition of 
the soil and waste pipes, as well as the pres¬ 
ence or absence of a trap on the rain leader, 
must be examined. The presence of dis¬ 
used water-closets or sinks in the cellar 
must be noted, as these are a nuisance and 
fill the cellar with sewer air, which is drawn 
into the whole house from the cellar. The 
various water pipes and gas pipes may also 
be worthy of attention in the cellar while 
one is there. In examining the various 
wood and coal sheds found in cellars, do 
not poke a match or candle into them when 
they are closed. I once did it, and was 
nearly undone by a beautiful little fire 
which I started, and I had the time of my 
life to extinguish it without alarming the 
whole house and bringing in the Fire De¬ 
partment. 


The Halls and Stairs. 

The Inspector next ascends the stairs and 
comes into the main hallway. Here are a 
number of points to inspect. The width, 
height and' ventilation of the entrance hall, 
the material of the floor, its condition and 
the condition of the walls and ceilings, the 
illumination of the halls at night, the pres¬ 
ence of any plumbing fixtures in the halls— 
all are objects of inspection and should be 
carefully noted. 

The stairs, their material, the condition, 
presence of handrails and security of banis¬ 
ters, the lighting of stairway and the con¬ 
dition of the treads should be next in¬ 
spected. 

From each hall the Inspector is supposed 
to enter the living apartments and here pro¬ 
ceed with his inspection of the size of the 
rooms, the material of walls, ceiling and 
floors, the ventilation of rooms by windows 
and the presence of plumbing fixtures and 
pipes within the rooms. Especially is it 
important to inspect the condition of the 
water-closet apartments and water-closets, 
which are the principal fixtures of the 
plumbing and are very often in bad sanitary 
condition. 

The Inspector is likely to find some pe¬ 
culiar fixtures in some tenements. He may 
find some old time “pan water-closet,” or 
old “long Philadelphia” hopper, both of 
which are a nuisance and should be ordered 
out whenever found. Of the modern clos¬ 
ets, the “washout” is the worst form, while 
the “siphon” is the best. The traps under 
fixtures are often defective by having holes 
in them, poked through by ignorant janitors 
who try to clean a fixture by cutting a hole 
in a trap and then puttying it up, or tying 
rags around it. 


The inspection of the house is finished 
when the Inspector reaches the roof. Here 
he has to note a number of things, especial¬ 
ly the material of roof and its condition; 
the extension of the vertical pipes, their 
size and manner of protection; the chim¬ 
ney and its condition; the eaves gutter and 
mouth of the rain leader; the attachment 
of goose-neck ladder, etc. 

It is evident, therefore, that an inspec¬ 
tion of a house, if made properly, takes 
time, thought and experience and also some 
art, and that house inspection is not only 
a science but an art. 

The method of inspection of tenement 
houses must, of course, be varied, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances. Some Inspectors be¬ 
gin their inspection, as I indicated, from 
the bottom, and work up to the roof; others 
go first up to the roof and make their in¬ 
spection coming down. 


The Inspection Blanks. 

In the Tenement House Department the 
Inspector has' it comparatively easy, for 
the department furnishes the Inspector with 
printed inspection schedules, which embrace 
all items and points of inspection, and all 
the Inspector has to do is to fill in the 
blanks after each item. The blanks, copies 
of which are reprinted in my various books, 
are variously named, according to the spe¬ 
cial inspections they are designed to cover. 
Thus there are the following cards: “I,” 
“U,” “B,” “F,” “S,” etc. The “U” and “I” 
cards require a thorough inspection of the 
house, the “B” cards concern bakeries, “F” 
cards mean an inspection of fire-escapes, 
and the “S” cards are a general sanitary 
inspection, made by the Inspector without 
reference to items printed on card. 

The Tenement House Department re¬ 
quires the Inspector simply to state what 
he finds in the house; otherwise to simply 
state “facts” as they are. The Inspector 
is not required to give his opinions of con¬ 
ditions, but exact facts and conditions as 
he finds them at time of inspection. The 
department considers the Inspector as one 
of its “eyes,” and requires him to see with¬ 
out prejudice, and report things as he sees 
them, leaving all conclusions and formula¬ 
tions of opinions to his superiors. The or¬ 
ders which the department sends out to the 
owners and agents of the inspected houses 
are based upon the facts as reported to 
the department by the Inspector. And woe 
to the Inspector if the facts, as he reported 
them, are not exactly as they are, for the 
owner, being touched on the most sacred 
strings of his soul, viz., his pocket, will 
surely make a big “kick” with a capital 
“K,” and if the Inspector’s facts do net 
correspond with real conditions, the Inspec¬ 
tor will find himself in what is vulgarly 
known as the “soup.” 

If the Inspector is certain of his facts 
he will, of course, not care how the owner 
kicks, for the facts will back him up if a 
supervisor is sent for reinspection and to 
verify the inspection of the first Inspector. 


6 


I remember once "having been caught my¬ 
self with “the goods” in a thorough inspec¬ 
tion I made of a house. Not only did I 
make a careful inspection of the house, but 
my report was what I considered a “work 
of art,” long and drawn out, embracing 
some fifteen or twenty various serious vio¬ 
lations with some beautiful recommenda¬ 
tions to rip up the house generally. The 
report was all right, and the facts were all 
right, the only trouble was that . . . 

house number was wrong! Instead of re¬ 
porting on 69 East 70th Street, the nouse 
complained of and the house I actually ex¬ 
amined, I made out a report on 70 East 
69th Street, a house in pretty good condi¬ 
tion, and which happened to belong to the 
same owner as the other house. Of course 
I “got it in the neck,” figuratively speaking. 

Don’t Talk When Making Inspections. 

There is one special precaution an In¬ 
spector must take and a precaution which 
cannot be emphasized too often and too 
much; and that is, to talk as little as he 
can, in fact to be dumb and deaf when 
making his inspections. The Inspector 
should not say one word to the janitor or 
to the owner of the house he is inspecting, 
not one word more than to state his busi¬ 
ness, show his authority and then proceed 
with his inspection. If the owner asks him 
for his opinion of the condition of the house, 
pr of his findings on inspection, it is best to 


refer him to the office—“Let George do it!” 
And I did it once, too, and got the finest 
roasting I ever got in my life. For the 
Inspector may be sure that whatever he 
says to the owner will be twisted and para¬ 
phrased and reported to the office, with the 
result that Inspector will find himself in a 
“hole.” 

You will find on inspection all kinds of 
animals called tenement owners. Some are 
bullies and will try bulli-ragging tactics with 
you, bluffing and boasting of their “pull” 
and their ability to “bounce” you if you 
send in an unfavorable report, or make a 
big order on the house. Others are whin¬ 
ing curs, crying and complaining of bad 
times, insisting that they lose money on 
their houses and that they will be bank¬ 
rupted if you send in a bad report. Then 
again there are others, the “good fellows,” 
the bluff and hale and hearty fellows who 
will almost shake off your paw, they love 
you so. They will offer to treat you at the 
corner saloon, or treat you with their best 
cigars, or offer to introduce you to the big 
leader of the district, etc. Beware of these; 
they are the worst of the lot; for while you 
may laugh at the “bluffer,” have but con¬ 
tempt for the “whiner,” you cannot very 
well escape the blandishments of the “hand¬ 
shaker,” and woe to you if you do accept his 
cigar, or drink! After many a bitter ex¬ 
perience with all kinds of owners and agents * 
of tenements I came to the conclusion that 
it is best for the Inspector not to trust any 
of them, and do the work and be “mum.” 


A 1916 DIGEST OF LAWS AND ORDINANCES GOV¬ 
ERNING THE REGULATION OF TENEMENTS. 


The following three articles were pub¬ 
lished in the Record and Guide of October 
21, October 28 and November 4, 1916, and 
are here reproduced by kind permission of 
the Record and Guide Co. They constitute 
a valuable ready reference to the laws and 
ordinances relating to tenements. 

NOTE:—Owing to the fact that these 
articles were written for the benefit of 
builders,, owners, etc., there are some phases 
of the law not covered which are desirable 
to cover for the benefit of Tenement House 
-Inspector candidates. The publishers have 
submitted these articles to Mr. John L. 
PIeines. of the Tenement House Depart¬ 
ment, who has. edited the contents of this 
book, and Mr. Pleines has made a number 
of insertions. He has also- made a correc¬ 
tion or two where the wording was found 
a little loose. No changes have been made 
in Mr. Ackerman’s articles, and Mr. Heines’ 
insertions are distinguished by being placed 
in. italic type. 


BY HARMON ACKERMAN, 

Member of the New York Bar. 

(Copyright, 1916, by the Record and Guide 
Co., New York. All rights reserved.) 


PART I. 

With a view of setting before the tene¬ 
ment house owners and managers, laws 
governing the regulation of tenement houses 
and to acquaint them with such rules and 
regulations, the - following digest has been 
prepared. The statutes have been followed 
as closely as possible and all legal superflu¬ 
ity has been disregarded and the statutes 
rewritten in simple language. It was not 
-thought necessary to include the laws affect¬ 
ing new buildings, alterations or extensive 
repairs, as plans for such work must first 
be submitted to the Tenement House De¬ 
partment or the Building Department be¬ 
fore the work can be started. The laws 


7 





with reference to Water Supply, Gas and 
Electricity Departments have also been 
omitted. 

It is needless to say that the burdens of 
tenement house owners are becoming more 
and more onerous every day; it is, there¬ 
fore, incumbent upon owners to devise some 
method by which tenement houses will once 
more appeal to the general public for in¬ 
vestment. All tenement house owners must 
awake to the fact that they must play with 
team work; all must share the burdens, and 
all must work for a common purpose with 
the utmost amount of zeal. “Unison” 
should be their byword. 

Doubtless new laws will be introduced 
to regulate further tenement houses. If the 
law is a good one and will not impose upon 
landlords a hardship, then no opposition 
should be encountered, and on the other 
hand all should give aid in seeing it ap¬ 
proved. It is only when a law is proposed 
that would impose a hardship on owners 
that any opposition should be made, and 
this opposition should be decisive. In this 
way the popular opinion of tenement house 
owners will eventually be changed and co¬ 
operation between tenant and landlord will 
ultimately come to pass. 

Some of the troubles which heap upon 
the heads of tenement house owners are as 
follows: 

(1) The custom of leasing entire buildings 
to irresponsible people, whose only desire 
is to mulct the building and leave it a wreck. 

(2) Building tenement houses for specu¬ 
lative purposes and the system of building 
loans for that purpose, the building being 
necessarily erected with the cheapest mate¬ 
rials, causing unnecessary annoyance and 
continuous repairs, costing an amount equal 
to rebuilding. 

(3) The numerous small and petty viola¬ 
tions that are filed against tenement houses 
because the owner is penny-wise and pound- 
foolish. 

(4) The habit of leaving the entire prem¬ 
ises in charge of janitors, who have all the 
work they can possibly do in merely seeing 
that the house is kept in a clean and sani¬ 
tary condition. The collection of rents, 
receiving of complaints and making repairs 
should be the duty of the landlord or his 
representative. 

(5) The lack of attention given by owners 
to the needs of the building and the infre¬ 
quent visits by them to see whether or not 
the property is in good condition. It should 
be the duty of every tenement house owner 
to visit his building from top to bottom 
at least twice a month and make certain 
that everything is in ship-shape condition. 
It is questionable whether the average own¬ 
er would know whether conditions are as 
they should be, and therefore the really 
safe way is to employ some capable manag¬ 
ing agent to look after the property. 

(6) The landlord generally blames the 
tenants for all his troubles, and vice versa. 
There is no doubt the tenants imagine that 
the landlord should fix every tiny hole, 


paint and paper the rooms once a month, 
and make a four-room apartment a palace, 
all for a rental less than it would cost to 
rent a room in a second class hotel. The 
only way to relieve this condition, in part, 
is for the owner to run his house in the 
same way that he would conduct his busi¬ 
ness—in a systematic manner. 

The digest follows: 

Areas. —Areas opening at the top must 
be properly protected with suitable railings 
and mounted with gates opening inwardly. 
(C. O., Chp. 23, Art. 14, Sec. 161.) (C. O., 

Chp. 5, Art. 21, Sec. 450.) Areas shall be 
properly graded and drained and connected 
with the street sewer so that all water may 
pass freely into it. ( T . H. L., Sec. 91.) 

Chimneys and Fireplaces. — Buildings 
must be provided with adequate chimneys 
running through every floor, and connecting 
every apartment with an open fireplace or 
grate, or place for a stove. (T. H. L., Sec. 
78.) 

Chimney and Flues. —If any chimney, 
stove-pipe or flue takes fire the owners are 
liable to a penalty of $5.00, unless tenant 
occupies entire building. (C. O., Chp. 12, 
Art. 2, Sec. 29.) 

ELEVATOR. 

Fireproof Shafts. —In every non-fireproof 
building all elevators not enclosed in fire¬ 
proof shafts must be so enclosed. (C. O., 
Chp. 5, Art. 18, Sec. 373.) 

Inspection and Regulation.— Superintend¬ 
ent of Buildings must inspect passenger 
elevators and those used for employees 
every three months. He can require any 
repairs necessary. If dangerous, he can 
stop use until^orders comolied with. (C. O., 
Chp. 5, Art. 27, Secs. 565-568.) 

Elevator Runners. — Elevator runners 
must have qualifications prescribed by Su¬ 
perintendent of Buildings. They must not 
be less than 18 years of age and must have 
at least one month’s instructions from a 
competent person. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 27, 
Sec. 566.) (Building Department Regula¬ 
tions, Sub. 5.) 

Freight Elevators. — Freight elevators 
must contain sign: “This is not a passen¬ 
ger elevator. It is unlawful for any per¬ 
son other than the operator or those neces¬ 
sary to handle freight to ride on this ele¬ 
vator.” (C. O'., Chp. 5, Art. 27, Sec. 566.) 

Passenger Elevators. —Every passenger 
elevator is now given a serial number which 
must be posted in the elevator car. (C. 
O., Chp. 5, Art. 27, Sec.- 564.) 

Accidents. —The owner, lessee or person 
in charge of elevator must immediately no¬ 
tify Superintendent of Buildings of any ac¬ 
cident to person or damage to apparatus. 
(C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 27, Sec. 568.) 

EMPLOYEES. 

Employment of Children.— Children un¬ 
der sixteen cannot be employed in apart¬ 
ment houses more than 48 hours a week or 
six days of eight hours. They are not per- 


mitted to work before 8 a. m. and after 7 
p. m. (163) Children under 14 not allowed 
to work in an apartment house under any 
condition. (Labor Law, Secs. 161-163.) 

Injury to Employees. —Where an owner 
of a building employs an. engineer, fireman, 
elevator attendant or operator, electrician, 
carpenter, painter or other repair men, he 
is liable for an injury sustained by the em¬ 
ployee arising out of and in course of the 
employment, without regard to fault to any¬ 
one, except where the injurv is wilfully 
caused by the employee or another, or he 
is intoxicated while on duty. (Workmen’s 
Compensation Act, Art. 2, Sec. 10, Art. 1, 
Group 12-22 and 42.) The article does not 
apply to cases where the woikmen are em¬ 
ployed to do a certain job at a fixed com- 
pensa'ion for the work. It refers to regular 
employees. 

FIRE PROTECTION. 

Fire Extinguishing Appliances. —Fire De¬ 
partment or Police Department may require 
adequate means and appliances to be in¬ 
stalled for the prevention and extinguish¬ 
ing of fires; also for the communication of 
alarm of fire, accident, or danger to the 
Police or Fire Department. (C. O., Chp. 
12, Art. 2, Sec. 20.) 

Water tanks on roof or in cellar, stand¬ 
pipes, automatic sprinklers, hose, nozzles, 
wrenches, fire extinguishers, hooks, axes, 
and such other appliances may be required 
by the Fire Department. 

On buildings 85 feet in height, or exceed¬ 
ing 13,000 square feet in area, a 3-inch or 
larger vertical pipe already installed, is a 
compliance with this section. (C. O., Chp. 
5, Art. 28, Secs. 580-581.) 

Bakery.—No bakery is permitted where 
the building is not fireproof unless the bakery 
is made fireproof and there shall be no open¬ 
ings of any kind between the bakery and other 
parts of the building. (T. H. L., Sec. 40.) 
Nor shall any bakery be permitted in a cellar 
unless the bakery is at least ten feet in height 
from floor to ceiling and, if bakery is intended 
to be located entirely in the front part of the 
.building, the ceiling throughout shall be at 
least four feet six inches above curb level of 
street in front of building; or if bakery is to 
he located at the rear of building or to extend 
from front to rear, the ceiling shall be not 
less than one foot above the curb level. 

This does not apply to a cellar used and 
operated as a bakery at any time within one 
year prior to July 24, 1913; or, in course of 
construction May 9, 1913 ; or, construction of 
which was begun Jan. 1 and completed May 9, 
1913, and used and operated as a bakery prior 
to Jan. 1 , 1914. (Sec. 116, Article 8, Labor 
Law.) 

Combustible Materials. —Storing, keeping 
or handling any combustible articles without 
permit from Fire Department is prohibited. 
(T. H. L., Sec. 39.) The storing and keeping 
of any combustibles in excess of amounts al¬ 
lowed by Fire Department permit is also pro¬ 
hibited. (City Charter, 1341b.) 


Doors. —Doors leading into the hall where 
paint, oil, spirituous liquors or drugs are 
stored must be made fireproof. (T. H. L., 
Sec. 41.) 

Dumbwaiters.—All doors opening into halls 
from any portion of a tenement house where 
paints, oils, spirituous liquors or drugs are 
stored, must be made fireproof. (T. H. L., 
Sec. 41.) See Wire glass, etc. 

Exits. —Every building which is not pro¬ 
vided with exit facilities prescribed for new 
buildings, and in which the exit facilities are 
inadequate for the safety of occupants, shall 
be provided with sufficient fm-? 'rrnpc/,, 
ways or other means of egrei-S in case of fire, 
i*s stivll be directed by the Superintendent of 
Buildings. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 8, Sec. 161.) 
Should read". “As directed by the Tenement 
House Department.” (Laws 1916, Sec. 14, 
Chap. 503.) _ 

Fat Boiling. — No place of business in 
which fat is boiled is permitted in a non-fire- 
proof building, unless the place in which the 
fat is boiled is made fireproof. No opening 
of any kind shall be permitted in walls between 
place where fat is boiled and the other parts 
of the building. (T. H. L., Sec. 40.) 

Fire Escapes. —Buildings erected prior to 
April 18, 1912, must be provided with fireproof 
outside stairways or with fire escapes directly 
accessible to each apartment without passing 
through a public hallway, which must be kept 
in good order and repair. When rusty, must 
be painted with two coats of paint. (T. H. 
L., Sec. 16.) 

Inspection of Fire Appliances. —Person in 
charge of building must once a month inspect 
all fire appliances, and see that they are in 
perfect working order. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 
28, Sec. 585.) 

Pumps and Elevator. —Building exceed¬ 
ing 100 feet in height must have steam or 
electric pumps, and at least one passenger 
elevator, which must be kept in readiness for 
immediate use by Fire Departments night and 
day. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 28, Sec. 583.) 

Standpipes Necessary. —Buildings exceed¬ 
ing 85 feet (or exceeding 10,000 square feet 
in area) in height must. have standpipes un¬ 
less already provided with a 3-inch or large 
vertical pipe. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 28, Sec. 
581.) 

Wainscoting. —When wainscoting sheathing 
or any other covering is to be placed in build¬ 
ing, (should read “over”), the surface of the 
walls, ceilings or partitions of a tenement, the 
ceilings, wall or partition behind it must first 
be plastered (down to the floor line) (elimi¬ 
nate words in parenthesis—Editor), and any 
intervening space between plastering and 
sheathing or wainscoting must be filled in solid 
with incombustible material. In the case of 
walls and partitions the plastering and filling 
must extend down to the floor line. (T. H. 
L., Sec. 37.) 


PART TWO. 

HALLS AND STAIRS. 

Light in Hallways. —Tn tenement houses 
four stories and over, where the public hall 


9 



is not light enough so that one can read 
without artificial light, wooden panels in 
doors located at the end of the halls, and 
opening up into rooms must be removed, 
and ground wire or translucent glass not 
less than four square feet must be substi¬ 
tuted. In lieu thereof sash windows of wire 
glass not less than five square feet in a 
partition connecting a room directly open¬ 
ing on a street, yard, court or shaft, may 
be provided, or a window, the plans of 
which must be at right angles to the axis 
of hall, which window must open on street, 
yard, court or shaft. 

If public hall and stairs have no windows 
opening on street or yard, and if in the 
opinion of the Tenement House Department 
the light is not sufficient, it may order that 
a light be kept burning in the hallway near 
the stairs, on each floor, from sunrise to 
sunset. (T. H. L., Sec. 74.) 

Proper light must be kept burning in the 
public hallways near the stairs upon the 
entrance floor and second floor above the 
entrance floor every night from sunset to 
sunrise, and on all floors from sunset until 
10 P. M. (T. H. L., Sec. 76.) 

Public Halls and Stairs. —In buildings 
built prior to April, 1901, the public halls 
and stairs must have skylights, ventilators, 
windows in bulkheads, or other means of 
light or ventilation which may be deemed 
practicable by Tenement House Depart¬ 
ment. (T. H. L., Sec. 77.) 

Cellar Stairs and Fireproof Walls. —When 
it is necessary to construct new stairs from 
the first story to the basement or cellar, 
it must be entirely enclosed with brick walls 
and fireproof self-closing doors at both top 
and bottom. (T. H. L., Sec. 35.) 

Banisters and Railings. —Building must 
be provided with proper banisters and 
railings, which must be kept in good repair. 
(T. H. L., Sec. 35.) 

Cellar Steps. —Every entrance or flight of 
steps projecting beyond line of street, and 
descending into cellar or basement story, if 
not covered, must be enclosed with a per¬ 
manent railing on each side from 3 to 3p2 
feet high, with a gate to open inwardly or 
with two iron chains across front of en¬ 
trance—1 near top, other in center, to be 
closed during night, unless there is light 
burning. For a violation of this Section, 
a penalty of $150 is imposed. After receipt 
of notice of violation it can be altered with¬ 
in ten days. If not complied with after 
notice is received, the penalty is $250. (C. 

O., Chp. 23, Art. 14, Secs. 164-170.) 

PENALTIES. 

Violation of Fire Prevention Law. —Upon 
conviction for a violation or a refusal to 
comply with any provision of Chapter 12 
of the Code of Ordinances, called Fire and 
Fire Prevention, a fine of $500, or six 
months imprisonment, or both fine and im¬ 
prisonment is imposed. A penalty of $250 
in a civil action can also be recovered. (C. 
O.. Chp. 12, Art. 2, Sec. 30.) 


Violation of Building Code. —For a viola¬ 
tion of the Building Code, Chapter 5 of the 
Code of Ordinances, a fine of $50 is im¬ 
posed. If notice of violation is received, 
and it is not complied with within ten days, 
the penalty is $250. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 32, 
Sec. 654.) 

Violation of Labor Law. —Penalty for 
violation of the Labor Law is as follows: 

Fine not less than $20 nor more than $50 
for the first offense. 

30 days imprisonment, or fine not less 
than $50 nor more than $200, or both, for 
second offense. 

60 days imprisonment, or fine not less 
than $250, or both, for third offense. (Pe¬ 
nal Law, 1275, Sub. 6.) 

Violation of Sanitary Code. —Owners, les¬ 
see and tenants, where a nuisance exists 
or for a violation of the Sanitary Code, 
Chapter 20 of the Code of Ordinances, are 
jointly and severally liable in so far as they 
respectively have the power of prevention. 
(C. O., Chp. 20, Art. 4, Sec. 51.) 

Violation of Tenement House Law.— 
Every person who violates or assists in vio¬ 
lation of any provision of the Tenement 
House Law, is guilty of a misdemeanor, 
punishable by imprisonment for ten days 
for each and every day the violation con¬ 
tinues, or not less than ten, nor more than 
one hundred days if the violation is not 
wilful. If the offense is wilful, then the 
penalty is $250 fine, or not less than 10 
and not more than 100 days, or both fine 
and imprisonment. (T. H. L., Sec. 124.) 

For not filing name of owner with the 
T. H. D., a fine of $50 is imposed. If no¬ 
tice to file same is given and not complied 
with, a civil penalty of $250 may be recov¬ 
ered, and as a lien against the property. 
(T. H. L., Sec. 124.) 

The owner of a tenement house or any 
part thereof, who violates or assists in vio¬ 
lating any chapter of the T. H. L., or where 
a nuisance is liable to a civil penalty of 
$50, besides costs and disbursements of the 
action. . (T. H. L.., Sec. 124.) 

Prostitution in Tenements. —Tenement 
houses are subject to a penalty of $1,000 
if it or any part is used for the purpose of 
prostitution or assignation of any descrip¬ 
tion with permission of owner thereof or 
his agent. Penalty when recovered is a 
lien against the property. (T. H. L., Sec. 
151.) 

Violation of Code. —If a specific punish¬ 
ment is not provided for a violation of a 
provision of the Code of Ordinances, the 
punishment or conviction is a fine of not 
more than $10, or imprisonment not exceed¬ 
ing ten days, or both fine and imprison¬ 
ment. (C. O., Chp. 27, Sec. 10.) 

PROHIBITED USES. 

Uses.—A resolution adopted by the Board 
of Estimate and Apportionment July 25, 1916, 
regulating and restricting the location of trades 
and industries and the location of buildings 
designed for specified uses and establishing 
the boundaries of districts for the said pur - 


poses applies as much to tenements as it does 
to other classes of buildings. 

Keeping of Animals.—No horse, cow, 
calf, swine or goat is permitted to be kept 
on the premises. (T. H. L., Sec. 109.) 

Detrimental to Health.—Storing, keep¬ 
ing or handling hay, straw, excelsior, cot¬ 
ton, paper stock, feathers, rags or anything 
dangerous or detrimental to life or health 
is prohibited. (T. H. L., Sec. 39.) 

Storage of Combustibles.—Storage of 
combustible fibres is not permitted. (C. O., 
Chp. 12, Art. 2, Sec. 24.) 

Gambling.—Where owner knows building 
is used for gambling purposes, he is guilty 
of a. misdemeanor. (Penal Law, Sec. 973.) 

Liability of Landlord.—One knowingly 
leasing or giving possession or permitting 
use of building for illegal trade, manufac¬ 
ture or other business, is liable for any dam¬ 
age resulting from said use. (Real Prop¬ 
erty Law, Sec. 231.) 

Selling Liquors.—If part of premises are 
rented for sale of liquor and notice forbid¬ 
ding the selling or giving of liquors to a 
designated person is given to the owner or 
his agent, and the designated person subse¬ 
quently becomes intoxicated, because of 
such selling or giving away, the owner can 
be sued for all damages resultant therefrom. 
If the notice is sent to the tenant only, then 
the liability of the landlord is joint with 
that of the tenant. (Liquor Tax Law, Sec. 
41.) 

Lodging, Stable, Storage of Rags.—No 

tenement house is permit.ed to be used for 
a lodging house, stable or for the storage 
of handling rags. (T. H. L., Sec. 109.) 

Lottery.—One knowingly letting building 
or any part thereof for lo'.tery purposes is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Law, Sec. 
1381.) 

Where owner knows building is used as 
a place for the sale of lottery policies, he 
is a common gambler, and if no steps are 
taken to oust tenant, a penalty of one thou¬ 
sand dollars ($1,000) fine or two years’ im¬ 
prisonment or both attaches. (Penal Law, 
Secs. 974-976.) 

Manufacturing.—Tenement houses are not 
to- be used for purpose of manufacturing, 
altering, repairing or finishing any articles 
whatsoever, except for sole and exclusive 
use of person using part of tenement or 
members of household, without a license, 
except the manufacture of collars, cuffs, 
shirt and shirtwaists made of cotton or 
linen fabrics. 

Applications for license for manufactur¬ 
ing must be made to Labor Department, 
who, after investigation, will grant same. 

This section does not apply to shop on 
main or ground floor with separate entrance 
to street and unconnected with living rooms 
and not used for sleeping or cooking pur¬ 
poses. (Labor Law, Sec. 100.) 

An owner of a tenement house must pre¬ 
vent his building being used for the pur¬ 
poses mentioned in the foregoing paragraph. 
On receipt of notice that it is so being 
used, he must comply with it in ten days or 


start proceedings in fifteen days to oust the 
tenan:. (Labor Law, Sec. 105.) 

Nu.sance.—One knowingly letting a build¬ 
ing for committing or maintaining a public 
nuisance is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Pe¬ 
nal Law, Sec. 1533.) 

Anything that annoys, endangers or in¬ 
jures the comfort, repose, healtn, or safety 
of any considerable number of people, or 
offends public decency or unlawfully inter¬ 
feres with, obstructs a public park, square, 
street or highway is a nuisance. (Penal 
Law, Sec. 1530.) 

Theatricals.—Where owner knowingly 
lets his property to be used for theatrical 
or. other performance on Sunday, he is guil¬ 
ty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Law, Sec. 
2152.) 

Opium.—One knowingly letting a build¬ 
ing for the sale or giving away of opium is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Law, Sec. 
1533.) 

Pool Selling.—Pool selling, book selling, 
bet and wagers are not permitted, and 
where owner has knowledge that the build¬ 
ing is being used for that purpose, he is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Law, Sec. 
986.) 

Prostitution.—Where owner knows that a 
tenement house is used for prostitution he 
is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Law, 
Sec. 1146.) 

No tenement house is permitted to be 
used for the purpose of prostitution or as¬ 
signation. (T. H. L., Sec. 109.) 

If summary proceedings are not com¬ 
menced within five days after receiving no¬ 
tice by Board of Health that building or 
part thereof is used for prostitution, it is 
deemed that it was so used with permission 
of owner and lessee. Two. or more convic¬ 
tions of persons using tenement house for 
prostitution within a period of six months 
are deemed * * * conclusive to hold the 
premises were used for such purposes with 
the permission of the landlord and lessee. 
(T. H. L., Sec. 154.) 

General reputa ion of the building is com¬ 
petent and presumptive evidence that the 
building was used for prostitution. (T. H. 
L., Sec. 154.) 

Slot Machines.—Keeping a slot machine 
on premises is a misdemeanor. (Penal 
Law, Sec. 982.) 


PART THREE. 

ROOFS. 

Bulkhead and Scuttles on Roof.—Build¬ 
ings built prior to April 10, 1901, must have 
bulkheads or scuttles not less than 21 inch¬ 
es by 28 inches; after that date they must 
be 2 feet by 30 inches. Scuttles must be 
covered on the outside with metal; also 
must be provided with stairs or stationary 
ladder leading thereto and easily accessible 
to all tenants. Scuttles must be in ceiling 
of public hall. Access through scuttles to 
the rcof must be direct and uninterrupted. 
Scuttles must be hinged so as to readily 
open. 



Every bulkhead must have stairs with 
hand rail to roof. 

Door leading to roof must not be locked 
with a key, but may be fastened on the in¬ 
side by movable bolts or hooks. (T. H. 
L., Sec. 32.) 

Leaky Roofs, etc. —Roofs, skylights, walls 
and windows must be kept in a very good 
condition of repair so that rain water does 
not enter building; all rain water must be 
drained. (C. O., Chp. 20, Art. 4, Sec. 59; 
T. H. L., Sec. 102.) 

Water Tanks on Roofs. —Water tanks 
must be kept covered and ventilated. When 
used for holding drinking water or for do¬ 
mestic use they must be cleaned at least 
once a year or as often as the Department 
of Health directs. (C. O., Chp. 20, Art. 4, 
Sec. 61.) 

ROOMS. 

Rooms, Lighting and Ventilation. —In 

building built prior to April 10, 1901, no 
room can be occupied for living purposes 
unless it has a window opening directly 
upon the street, or upon a yard not less 
than four feet deep or above the roof of 
an adjoining building, or upon a shaft or 
court not less than 20 square feet in area 
open to the sky without roof or skylight, 
unless on the top floor, where the room 
is adequately lighted and ventilated by a 
skylight opening directly to the outer air. 

If the room does not comply with the 
foregoing it must be provided with a sash 
window opening into an adjoining room in 
the same apartment which latter room opens 
directly on a street or yard not less than 
four feet deep or it is connected with a 
similar sash window or series of windows 
with such an outer room. 

Sash windows to be vertically-sliding pul¬ 
ley-hung, sash, not less than 3x5 feet be¬ 
tween stop heads. 

Both halves of window must open easily; 
the lower half must be glazed with trans¬ 
lucent glass. 

If windows of the prescribed width can¬ 
not be constructed, the department may 
prescribe some other method. 

An alcove of no less dimensions than 
sash windows, in addition to the usual door 
opening, is deemed a compliance with the 
law. 

If the rooms do not open directly on the 
street the department can require that they 
be painted white or kalsomined white. (T. 
H. D., 73.) 

Basement and Cellar Rooms. —No rooms 
in basement or cellar can be occupied for 
living purposes without written permit from 
department. In buildings built prior to 
April 10, 1901, before the permit will be 
issued, the following requirements must be 
met: .Room must be at least seven feet 
high, ceiling must be two feet above surface 
of street; there must be appurtenant there¬ 
to the use of a water-closet; there must be 
outside and adjoining the room an open 
space of two feet six inches which must be 
well drained. One room at least must have 


window opening directly to street or yard 
of 12 square feet in size and readily opened 
for ventilation. It mu^t have sufficient light, 
be well ventilated, well drained and dry 
and fit for human habitation. (T. H. L., 
Sec. 95.) 

Floors of Basements and Cellars. —Floor 
or cellar or lowest floor of every tenement 
house must be free from dampness and, 
when necessary, shall be concreted with 
four inches of concrete and with a finished 
surface. (T. H. L., Sec. 100.) 

Cellar Ceilings. —Cellar ceilings must be 
plastered when required except when it is 
well sheathed with matched boards or cov¬ 
ered with a metal ceiling, or where first 
floor above cellar is constructed of iron 
beams and fireproof filling. (T. H. L., Sec. 
100 .) 

Boiler Room Protection. —Boilers which 
supply power to passenger elevators and 
steam or electric pumps, if location is in 
the lowest story, must be surrounded by a 
dwarf brick wall laid in cement mortar, or 
other waterproof construction, so as to ex¬ 
clude water to depth of two feet above floor 
level, preventing the flow of water into the 
ash pit boiler. (C. O., Cho. 5, Art. 28, Sec. 
584.) 

Cellar Walls and Ceilings. —Cellar walls 
and ceilings must-be whitewashed or painted 
a light color; same to be renewed when 
necessary or as may be required by Tene¬ 
ment House Department or Board of 
Health. (C. O., Chp. 20, Art. 4, Sec. 60; 
T. H. L., Sec. 101.) 

Overcrowding and Ventilation of Rooms. 

—Four hundred cubic feet of air is required 
for each adult, two hundred feet for each 
child under twelve years of age. This is 
to prevent overcrowding in tenement 
houses. (T. H. L., Sec. 111.) 

Wall Paper. —No wall paper shall be 
placed on wall or ceiling unless the old pa¬ 
per is removed and walls and ceilings are 
cleaned. (T. H. L., Sec. 107.) 

Damp Cellar or Room. —If cellar or any 
room is damp or penetrated .bv gas smell 
or exhalation, prejudicial to health, it can¬ 
not be rented, hired or allowed to be used 
for place of sleeping or residence. (C. O., 
Chp. 20, Art. 3, Sec. 54.) 

SHAFTS AND COURTS. 

Shaft and Inner Court. —At the bottom 
of every shaft and inner court a door must 
be provided so that it may be cleaned. If 
a door or window is already installed, it 
is a compliance with the statute. If the 
shaft or inner court is not in compliance 
in size with the Tenement House Law a 
fireproof self-closing door mus 4 ; be provided. 
(T. H. L., Sec. 105.) All shafts and courts 
shall he properly graded and drained and con¬ 
nected with the street sewer. (T. H L Sec 
91.) 

Wall of Yard Courts Painting.— Walls of 
all yard courts, inner courts and shafts, un¬ 
less built of light colored brick or stone, 
must be whitewashed or painted, a light 


color; to be renewed when necessary or 
required. (T. H. L., Sec. 105.) (Sec. 106.) 

Dumbwaiter Shafts. —Dumbwaiter shafts 
which extend into the cellar or lowest 
story, except such as do not extend more 
than three stories above the cellar or base¬ 
ment in dwelling houses, must be inclosed 
in the cellar or lowest story with walls of 
brick eight inches thick, unless already in¬ 
closed in some form of construction con¬ 
forming to the requirements prescribed for 
new dumbwaiter shafts. (C. O., Chp. 5, 
Art. 18, Sec. 373, Sub. 8.) The Tenement 
House Department requires that all dumb¬ 
waiter doors be equipped with self-closing de¬ 
vices. 

In bakeries where no fat boiling is done a 
dumbwaiter shaft communicating between a 
bakery in a cellar and the store above will be 
permitted if same is constructed entirely of 
brick and has no other openings than the one 
in store and the one in bakeshop, each pro¬ 
vided with a fireproof door so arranged that 
when one door is open or partly open the 
other is entirely closed. (T. H. L., Sec. 40.) 

SIDEWALKS. 

Repair of Sidewalks.— Sidewalks must be 
paved and kept in good repair; also curbs 
and gutter of street in front of building 
must be kept in good repair. (C. O., Chp. 
23, Art. 15, Sec. 181.) 

Obstruction and Nuisance. —Sidewalks, 
flagging and curbstones in front of building 
must be kept free from obstruction and nui¬ 
sance of every kind or anything that may 
be dangerous or prejudicial t'o health. 

Snow and Ice. —Four hours after snow 
ceases to fall it must be removed. The 
hours between 9 p. m. and 7 a. m. are not 
included in the four-hour period. A pen¬ 
alty of $3 'and costs is imposed for viola¬ 
tion of this section. (C. O., Chp. 22, Art. 
3, Sec. 21.) 

Vault Covers. —If vault covers present a 
slippery surface,, thirty days’ notice. to sub¬ 
stitute one that can afford secure footing 
is given. If no.ice is not complied with a 
penalty of $100 can be imposed. (C. O., 
Chp. 23, Art. 17, Secs. 243-244.) 

Water. —Water or other liquid is not per¬ 
mitted to run from or out of building upon 
or across sidewalk or curbstone. Ice ac¬ 
cumulation is also prohibited. (C. O., Chp. 
20, Art. 14, Sec. 271.) 

SINKS. 

Public Sinks. —Woodwork enclosing sinks 
in public halls or stairs must be removed 
and spaces underneath sinks must be left 
open. They must be kept in good repair, 
well painted with light colored paint. (T. 
H. L., Sec. 98.) 

Water Supply.—Proper and suitable tanks, 
pumps or other appliances must be provided 
to supply water in sufficient quantitv at one or 
more places on each floor, occupied by one or 
more families, at all hours of the day or night 
at all times of the year. (Eliminate the para¬ 
graph on “Tanks and Pumps” which follows.) 


Tanks and Pumps. 

Tanks and Pumps. —At one or more 

places on each floor tank pumps or other 
appliances are necessary to receive and dis¬ 
tribute a sufficient and adequate supply of 
water all times of the year, night and day. 
(T. H. L., Sec. 103.) 

WATER-CLOSETS. 

Water-closets. —Adequate privies or wa¬ 
ter-closets must be maintained, well lighted 
and ventilated. (C. O., Chp. 20, Art. 14, 
Sec. 284.) In tenement houses existing on 
April 11, 1901, there must be one water-closet 
for every two families. (T. H. L., Sec. 99.) 

Woodwork in Water-closets. —Woodwork 
enclosing all water-closets must be removed 
from the front of said closets and the space 
underneath the seat shall be left open. The 
floor or other surface beneath and around the 
closet shall be maintained in good repair, and 
if of wood shall be kept painted with light 
colored paint. (T. H. L., Sec. 97.) (Eliminate 
the remaining three lines of this paragraph.) 
They must be kept in good condition and re¬ 
pair, well painted with light-colored paint. (T. 
H. L., 97.) 

Water-closets. —Water-closet accommoda¬ 
tion in building built after April 10, 1901, 
must have separate compartments and must 
have a window opening on street or upon 
yard, court or vent shaft. In buildings built 
prior to April 10, 1901, the compartment 
must have a window opening on street or 
yard not less than four feet deep, or court 
or shaft not less than 25 square feet in 
area, open to the sky without roof or sky¬ 
light. Window must be not less than one 
foot by three feet between stopheads and 
must readily open. 

No water-closet can be maintained in a 
cellar without special permit in writing, 
from the Tenement House Department. 
When water-closets are situated on top. 
floor and lighted by skylight or situated at 
bottom of shaft or court covered by a sky-' 
light containing 3 square feet of glazed sur¬ 
face and can be readily opened, no windows 
necessary. (T. H. L., 93.) 

WINDOWS. 

Projection of Windows. —Bay-windows, 
oriel windows and show windows are not 
permitted to project more than one foot 
beyond building line. (C. O., Cho. 5, Art. 
21, Sec. 449.) 

Wire Glass, Transoms and Windows.— 

All transoms and windows opening into 
hall where paint, oil, spirituous liquors or 
drugs are stored, must be glazed with wire 
glass or be removed and closed up as solidly 
as the rest of the wall. (T. H. L., 41.) 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Alterations. —Before alterations are com¬ 
menced a detailed verified statement and 
plans of the alteration must be submitted 
to the Tenement House Department. 

13 


(Forms furnished by the Tenement House 
Department.) (T. H. L., 120.) 

Ashes, Cinders and Rubbish. —Dirt must 
be removed and not left to accumulate. 
Dust, gas, steam or offensive odors are not 
permitted to escape or be discharged to the 
detriment or annoyance of any person. (C. 
O., Chp. 20, Art. 12, Sec. 212.) 

Cleanliness of Building. —Buildings must 
be kept in a condition of cleanliness satis¬ 
factory to the Board of Health. (T. H. L., 
Sec. 104.) 

Dangerous Buildings. —Any building or 
part of building becoming dangerous or 
unsafe may be taken down and removed 
or made safe. Before doing so, the owner 
must first receive notice and he has until 
one o’clock the next day after receipt of 
notice to commence remedying the defect. 
(C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 31, Secs. 630, 631, 632.) 

Encroachments. —Such parts of buildings 
which already project beyond the building 
line may be maintained as constructed un¬ 
til their removal is directed by the Board 
of Aldermen or Board of Estimate and Ap¬ 
portionment. (C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 9, Sec. 
173.) 

Definition of Tenement House. —A tene¬ 
ment house is any house or building or 
part thereof which is either rented, leased, 
let or hired out to be occupied, or is occu¬ 
pied, in whole or in part, as the home or 
residence of three families or more living 
independently of each other and doing 
their cooking upon the premises, and in¬ 
cludes apartment houses, flat houses and all 
other houses so occupied. (T. H. L., Sec. 
2 .) 

Janitor. —When there are more than eight 
families living in a building the Tenement 
House Department may require the janitor 
to live on the premises. (T. H. L., Sec. 
110 .) 

House Numbering. —Proper street num¬ 
ber of building must be placed or affixed 
on fanlight or on inner door of building. 


A penalty of $10 attaches if it is not com¬ 
plied with within thirty days after receipt 
of notice. (C. O., Chp. 23, Art. 10, Sec. 
110.) 

Filing of Names of Owner. —Every owner, 
every lessee of whole house or other per¬ 
son having control must file in the Tene¬ 
ment House Department a notice contain¬ 
ing his name and address, a description of 
the property by street number or other¬ 
wise; number of apartments in each house, 
number of rooms in each apartment, and 
number of families occupying same. 

Within thirty days after transfer of build¬ 
ing the name of the new owner must be 
filed by the grantee. 

Thirty days after the death of owner or 
probate of will of owner the name of those 
who succeeded to his interest and stating 
death of deceased owner must be filed with 
the Tenement House Department. (T. li. 
L., Sec. 140.) 

Plumbing. —Plumbing must be kept in 
good order and repair. (C. O., Chp. 20, 
Art. 14, Sec. 277.) 

Receptacles. —Separate receptacles made 
of metal for holding ashes, garbage and 
liquid waste substances must be provided. 
(C. O., Chp. 20, Art. 13, Sec. 248; T. H. L., 
Sec. 108.) 

Repair. —All parts of house must be kept 
in good repair. (T. H. L., Sec. 102.) 

Shut-off Valves. —Where building is sup¬ 
plied with gas, vapor or fluid from an 
outside source, it must be provided wfith 
a stopcock or other device fixed to the sup¬ 
ply pipes leading into the building, at a 
place outside of the building, so arranged 
as to allow the supply to be shut off. Such 
device must be marked to indicate either 
the contents or purpose of the supply pipe 
or the company to which the device belongs. 
(C. O., Chp. 5, Art. 29, Sec. 601.) 

When Building Can Be Rented. —Before 
owner can lease or rent building it must be 
light, ventilated, clean and wholesome in all 
respects. (C. (X, Chp. 20, Art. 4, Sec. 54.) 




14 




AMENDMENTS TO THE TENEMENT HOUSE LAW 
FROM 1912 TO 1916, INCLUSIVE. 


The following is a summary of 19 new 
amendments to the Tenement House Law 
which went into effect in April, 1912. The 
summary is furnished by the Allied Real 
Estate Interests, which had a good deal to 
do with securing the amendments: 

Amendment 1. —Fire-escapes may be lo¬ 
cated in an unenclosed recess in the front 
of the building, to wit: recessed.. Up to 
the present time the -law did not cover this 
question, but the Tenement House Depart¬ 
ment has permitted the recessing of fire- 
escapes, and it was desired to make the law 
more clear on the subject. 

Amendment 2. —Offsets in exterior courts 
will hereafter be allowed either at right 
angles or along the line of the court itself, 
provided the length of such offset does not 
exceed its width, and that there shall be 
only one offset. 

Amendment 3. —All stairs shall hereafter 
extend from the entrance hall to the roof 
in all tenement houses, and each apartment 
shall be directly accessible at each story to 
such stairs and public halls, and in the case 
.of duplex apartments, each story of such 
apartment shall be so accessible except that 
one story.of a duplex apartment may be ac¬ 
cessible to a tower fire-escape or interior 
stairway as hereinafter provided for. 

Up to the present time there need be only 
one pair of stairs in tenement houses to the 
roof. The amendment will compel all stairs 
to run to the roof, making better access in 
case of fire. At the present time only one 
story of a duolex apartment need be con¬ 
nected with the stairs. This amendment 
will provide access irom eitner noor or a 
duplex apartment directly to a stairway. 

Amendment 4. —Winding stairs will here¬ 
after not be permitted except in a fireproof 
tenement house with power passenger ele¬ 
vator. Where such stairs are used, the 
radius of such stairs is designated. 

Amendment 5.—All windows in each stair 
hall shall be fireproof and. glazed with wire 
glass. 

Amendment 6.— In fireproof tenement 
houses hereafter erected, stairs to the base¬ 
ment may be located inside the building, 
but not directly underneath the stair lead¬ 
ing to the upper stories, but this prohibi¬ 
tion shall not apply where the basement is 
the. main entrance floor of the building. All 
such basement stairs shall be entirely en¬ 
closed in brick walls or fireproof partitions 
and have fireproof self-closing doors at the 
openings. 

Amendment 7. —Modifies the law as to the 
height of buildings to read as follows: 

The height of any tenement house here¬ 


after erected shall not exceed more than 
one-half the width of the widest street upon 
which it stands. The height shall be the 
perpendicular distance measured in a 
straight line from the curb level to the 
underside of the roof beams, but if the 
cornice shall exceed one-tenth the height 
of the building, the measurement shall be 
taken to the top of the cornice. Where 
bulkheads occur exceeding an area of more 
than 10 per cent, of the roof, the measure¬ 
ment shall be taken to the top of the bulk¬ 
head, but this shall not apply to elevator 
bulkheads that do not exceed twenty-three 
feet in height, nor to open pergolas or 
similar open ornamental treatment for roof 
gardens or play grounds. The measure¬ 
ment for height in all cases shall be taken 
through the center of the facade of the 
house, and in buildings fronting on more 
than one street or avenue the heights shall 
be measured through the center of the fa¬ 
cade on the street having the greatest 
grade. 

In all fireproof tenement houses herer 
after erected, in which one or more pas¬ 
senger elevators are provided and operated, 
pent houses may be erected on the main 
roof, but these pent houses, including all 
bulkheads for elevators or stairs or any 
other purpose, shall not cover more than 
50 per cent, of the area of such roof. Such 
pent houses shall not be used or rented as 
apartments; their use shall be limited sole¬ 
ly to laundries, store rooms or to servants’ 
and janitors’ quarters. Such pent houses 
must be set back at least ten feet from both 
the front and rear walls of the building and 
at least three feet from any court wall and 
shall have finished ceilings inside all rooms 
of not less than nine feet and shall not be 
more than twelve feet in height from the 
high point of the main roof to the high 
point of the pent house roof. Such pent 
houses shall not be deemed as affec ing the 
measurement or height of the building as 
described in the first part of this section, 
and shall be built entirely fireproof includ¬ 
ing floors, walls, trim, doors, etc. 

By measuring the height of the building 
to the underside of the roof beam instead 
of to the highest point, it permits the strut¬ 
ting up of the roof beams to obtain a pitch 
to the roof instead of the present method 
of roof fill and grade, and also increase 
by some seven to nine inches the height 
of a nine-story building on a sixty-foot 
street. 

The increasing of the area of pent houses 
from 10 per cent, to 50 per . cent, of the 
roof is a much needed improvement, as all 
high-class apartment houses to-day require 
adequate quarters for men servants which 
are separated from the servants’ quarters 
in an apartment, and for laundry rooms, 
both of which accommodations can be poci- 


15 



ly provided for in the basement, due to 
inadequate light and ventilation. The set¬ 
ting back from the building line and court 
lines is a protection against fire, and the 
compelling of the entire pent house to be 
entirely fireproof is a step forward. 

Amendment 8.—An open slat bridge or 
platform may hereafter extend across the 
yard from the roof of one tenement house 
to the roof of an adjoining building to 
furnish roof egress, provided the bridge or 
platform does not exceed four feet in width. 
At the present time there is no provision 
of the law which permits this very desir¬ 
able additional means of escape from one 
building to another in case of fire. 

Amendment 9. —-In fireproof tenement 
house hereafter erected in which one or 
more power passenger elevators are pro¬ 
vided and where such tenement house runs 
through from one street to another street, 
the two portions of the building may be 
connected and the yard between said por¬ 
tions built upon, but not above the level of 
the second tier of beams, nor so as to con¬ 
vert any unoccupied portion of such yard 
into a court less in size than the minimum 
size prescribed by sections forty-eight and 
fifty-nine of the law. Up to the present 
time this connecting of one building run¬ 
ning through from street to street has been 
impossible, and this added provision of the 
law is of great importance and value to 
property owners and will make available for 
proper and desirable improvement, many 
plots of ground whose frontage on one 
street is too small to be desirable, but 
which when connected through to the street 
in the rear, makes a building in size large 
enough to be profitable when operated as 
one building. 

(EDITOR’S NOTE:—This section has 
been further amended (April 26, 1916) by 
the addition of the following clause: “Noth¬ 
ing contained in this section shall be con¬ 
strued so as to require a yard for tenement 
houses hereafter erected upon lots running 
through from street to street in a gore¬ 
shaped block when the average width of the 
block measured parallel with the side lot 
lines of the lots which run through from 
street to street is not more than seventy 
feet.”) 

Amendment 10. —This amendment per¬ 
mits the cutting off of the corners of courts 
where the angle does not exceed six feet 
without compelling the placing of windows 
at such angles, making it possible hereaf¬ 
ter to install chimneys at such points, which 
has heretofore been prohibited. This same 
section is further amended to clarify the 
law on the question of area and dimen¬ 
sions of air intakes to courts and as to the 
portion of such courts that may be built 
on. 

Amendment 11. —Transoms may be omit¬ 
ted hereafter in rooms which have two 
windows, if each window contains twelve 
square feet of area between stopheads, or 


where a mullioned window contains twen¬ 
ty-four square feet. 

Amendment 12. —This amendment pro¬ 
vides that hereafter in no tenement house 
shall any room be less than seven feet wide 
in its least horizontal dimension except that 
in a fireproof tenement house, where it is 
provided with power passenger elevators; 
servants’ bedrooms may not be less than 
six feet in their least horizontal dimension. 
This modification will prevent the design¬ 
ing of long, narrow rooms, which have the 
requisite square area, as provided by law, 
but which are susceptible, by reason of 
their shape, of being divided into two rooms, 
each too small, and one probably without 
ventilation. 

Amendment 13. —This amendment pro¬ 
vides that the public halls in tenement 
houses over four stories in height shall 
have at least one window opening directly 
upon a street, yard, or court, and that such 
windows shall be at the end of the hall 
with a natural direction of the light paral¬ 
lel to the axis of said hall, and if the hall 
be more than sixty feet in length, there 
shall be one additional window for each 
additional thirty feet of hall or fraction 
thereof. If the window is not located at 
the end of the hall, there shall be at least 
one window opening directly upon a street, 
yard, or court in every twenty feet in length 
or fraction thereof in each hall. This makes 
a much needed amendment to the law to 
provide better lighting in public halls. 

Amendment 14. —This amendment pro¬ 
vides that in fireproof tenement houses 
where elevators are provided, that elevator 
vestibules will be permitted without a win¬ 
dow, provided they are completely shut off 
by fireproof partitions and fireproof self¬ 
closing doors, except that the elevator ves¬ 
tibules may be ventilated by means of vent 
flues not less than twelve inches by twelve 
inches in size, and also provided that such 
vestibules are equipped with both gas and 
electric light, and are kept properly lighted 
by electricity at all times. The amendment 
further provides that such vestibules may 
be twice the size of the elevator shaft which 
they serve and that the minimum width in 
either direction shall not be less than five 
feet, and that these vestibules may also open 
upon a stair hall or public hall, provided 
access to such hall is through a fireproof 
self-closing door set in fireproof partitions. 

At the present time elevator vestibules 
are too small and are not ventilated. 

Amendment 15. —This amendment pro¬ 
vides that on the top story of stair halls 
a ventilating skylight will be accepted in 
lieu of a window for ventilating that stair 
story. 

Amendment 16. —In fireproof tenement 
houses hereafter erected in which passenger 
elevators are provided and operated, water- 
closets and bathrooms which are supple¬ 
mentary to those required by law and which 


are not intended for the use or used by- 
servants, may be ventilated by individual 
vent flues extending from such closet or 
bathroom independent of any other flue up 
to and above the roof. These flues must 
be not less than three square feet in area, 
finished on the inside with even surface, to 
be uncovered at the top except with a hood 
or louvre. Such water-closets and bath¬ 
rooms shall be equipped with both gas and 
electricity and shall be kept properly light¬ 
ed by electricity. Up to the present time 
all toilets and bathrooms must be ventilated 
by a window opening directly on a court, 
shaft, street, yard, or upon a vent shaft. 

Vent shafts will hereafter be abolished 
and vent flues, as above described, substi¬ 
tuted, the difference being that one shaft 
was permitted to ventilate all bathrooms 
and toilets opening on it no matter how 
many, whereas a vent flue must be provided 
for each bath or toilet. 

Amendment 17. —In fireproof tenement 
houses hereafter erected, where power pas¬ 
senger elevators are operated, tower fire- 
escapes or stairways which are supplemen¬ 
tary to the stairways required by law may 
be built without complying with the pro¬ 
visions regarding stairways of this chapter. 
Such tower fire-escapes shall be shut off 
from all other parts of the building by 
fireproof partitions with self-closing fire¬ 
proof doors at all openings, and shall be 
constructed with such supplementary regu¬ 
lations as may be adopted by the Tenement 
House Department. Such tower fire-escapes 
shall not be designed for or Used as service 
stairs and they shall be kept adequately 
lighted at all times by electricity, with gas 
provided for emergency and kept free from 
encumbrances. 

This aduition to the law provides a much 
needed and desirable means of interior fire- 
escape which shall be planned and used only 
as such, and as the law clearly states, sup¬ 
plementary to the regular stairways. This 
will make it possible, particularly in duplex 
apartments, to provide satisfactory- means 
of egress from all floors of such apartments. 

Amendment 18. —This amendment pro¬ 
vides that all windows hereafter situated 
on the lot line, except when facing the 
street, shall be entirely fireproof and glazed 
with wire glass. At the present time this 
requirement is not enforced except where 
these windows occur less than fifteen feet 
above the roof of an adjoining building. 

Amendment 19. —This amendment pro¬ 
vides that all stairs and stair halls in all 
tenement houses shall be completely sepa¬ 
rated from every other stair and from all 
elevators by brick walls or terra cotta 
blocks with fireproof self-closing doors at 
all openings. 


OTHER AMENDMENTS. 

By John L. Pleines. 

The following are other amendments 
made between January 1, 1912, and Decem¬ 
ber, 1916: 

Article 2, Sec. 3— Buildings Converted or 
Altered. —Did read: “A building not erected 
for use as a tenement house,' if hereafter 
converted or altered to such use, shall there¬ 
upon become subject to all the provisions 
of this chapter affecting tenement houses 
hereafter erected.” 

The words “erected for use” were strick¬ 
en out in the amendment because the owner 
of tenements which had been converted to 
business buildings wanted to reconvert them 
to tenements, but not subject to the require¬ 
ments of new-law tenements. 

Article 4, Sec. 52.—Has been amended to 
permit bridge fire-escapes to extend across 
above the yard from the roof of a corner 
house to the roof of one adjoining or abut¬ 
ting on it. 

Article 4, Sec. 54a.—Permits the erection 
of retaining walls in yards or courts with¬ 
out having such walls considered as reduc¬ 
ing the minimum sizes of the yards and 
courts. 

Article 5, Sec. 109.—An additional clause 
has been added to this section (April 26, 
1916) which reads as follows: “In case 
the fire limits as they existed on April 10, 
1901, are extended, an existing stable per¬ 
mitted under this section may be continued 
in accordance with such provisions.” 

Article 6, Sec. 120.—(April 26, 1916) > A 
new clause has been added to this section 
which allows the Department to issue a per¬ 
mit for the erection of cellar walls only, if 
plans have been filed. 

Article 6, Sec. 124.—(April 26, 1916) That 
portion of this section which related to 
fines that could be imposed for encumber¬ 
ing fire-escapes has been changed from a 
fine of ten dollars to a fine of two dollars; 
and the words “which the nearest police 
magistrate shall have jurisdiction to im¬ 
pose” have been eliminated. 


Section 1341 of the Greater New York 
Charter as amended by Section 14 of Chap¬ 
ter 503 of the Laws of 1916. 

(Effective October 1, 1916.) 

Transfer of powers of other departments. 
Sec. 1341. —Such rights, powers and duties 
as are now possessed by the fire department 
and police department of tne City ot iNew 
York with respect to the prevention of in¬ 
cumbrance or obstruction of fire escapes 
on tenement houses are hereby transferred 
to and conferred upon the tenement house 
department. All rights, powers and duties 
now possessed by tne bureaus of buildings 
and the department of health of the City of 
New York with respect to the light and 
ventilation of tenement houses, and with 
respect to the equipment of completed tene¬ 
ment houses with fire escapes, are trans- 


17 




ferred to and conferred upon the tenement 
house department. All rights, powers and 
du'ies now possessed by the department of 
health of the City of New York with re¬ 
spect to the construction of and structural 
changes in bakeries and confectioneries in 
tenement houses are transferred to and con¬ 


ferred upon the tenement house department. 

Nothing in this act contained shall be 
construed to abridge, restrict or diminish 
the jurisdiction or powers of the tenement 
house department as they existed prior to 
January first, nineteen hundred and six¬ 
teen. 


PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON LAWS 
AND DUTIES, BY EXPERTS OF THE TENEMENT 
HOUSE DEPARTMENT. 


NOTE:—The following Questions are 
framed by experts of the Tenement House 
Department, and the Answers are based on 
years of experience. 

Ques. 1:—What do you understand the 
duties of an Inspector in the Tenement 
House Department to be? 

ANS.:—The principal duties of a Tene¬ 
ment House Inspector are the following: 
Supervise the construction of all tenement 
houses being erected and the alteration of 
all existing tenement houses and all build¬ 
ings altered or converted into tenement 
houses; see that they comply with the Tene¬ 
ment House Law. Such buildings must re¬ 
ceive a permit from the Tenement House 
Department before they can be occupied. 
See that no building not recorded as a 
tenement house is used as such without a 
certificate from the Tenement House De¬ 
partment. Report any dangerous or spe¬ 
cially unsanitary condition which would 
make a building uninhabitable, so that said 
building may be vacated at once. Make 
periodic inspections of the plumbing and 
sanitary conditions of all tenements in the 
district assigned him, and report the facts 
and all violations of law to the department. 
Investigate all complaints of citizens, and 
report violations of law where they may be 
found. 

Ques. 2:—Define a tenement house. 

ANS.:—A tenement house is any house 
or building, or portion thereof, which is 
either rented, leased, let or hired out, to 
be occupied, or is occupied, in whole or in 
part, as the home or residence of three or 
more families living independently of each 
other and doing their own cooking upon 
the premises, and includes apartment houses, 
flat houses and all other houses so occu¬ 
pied. 

Ques. 3:—In general, what improvements 
in tenement houses are provided for in the 
Tenement House Law? 

ANS.:—The law provides for the ade¬ 
quate lighting and ventilation of all public 
halls and all rooms in both new and exist¬ 
ing tenement houses; for the concreting 
and improving of all cellars, yards, courts 
and shafts; for the fireproofing of all new 


tenements over six stories in height; for 
providing adequate fire-escapes in all tene¬ 
ment houses; for all plumbing to comply 
with the plumbing rules and regulations; 
for cellars and basements to be occupied 
only under certain conditions; for only a 
certain percentage of a tenement lot being 
occupied; for special regulations for baker¬ 
ies and all dangerous businesses. 

Ques. 4:—What is the principal thing to 
be done before the construction or altera¬ 
tion of a tenement house is commenced? 

ANS.:—Plans must be filed with and ap¬ 
proved by the Tenement House Depart¬ 
ment. 

Ques. 5:—State in general the precau¬ 
tions required in the Tenement House De¬ 
partment to secure protection against and 
in case of fire. 

ANS.:—All new tenement houses over six 
stories must be made fireproof throughout 
on each floor. In buildings five stories or 
more in height, non-fireproof or fireproof, 
the first tier of beams must be of iron or 
steel, with fireproof flooring. In non-fire¬ 
proof buildings less than five stories in 
height,,where the first tier is non-fireproof, 
the cellar must be covered with fire-resist¬ 
ing material. There must be a scuttle open¬ 
ing in the roof. Egress from yard or court, 
if fire-escapes are not on front of building. 
Where materials are stored in a room or 
store open to the public, such parts of 
buildings must be fireproofed. No such 
materials can be stored in cellars or public 
parts of buildings. No wooden tenements 
or wooden buildings on same lot as a tene¬ 
ment may hereafter be erected within the 
fire limits. 

Ques. 6:—(a) What percentage of a cor¬ 
ner lot may be occupied by a tenement 
house? (b) What percentage of an inside 
lot? 

ANS.:—(a) Not more than 80 per cent, 
(b) Not more than 70 per cent. 

Ques. 7:—What limits the height of a 
tenement house? 

ANS.:—No tenement hereafter erected 
(or increased in height) shall by more than 
one-half exceed the width of the widest 


18 




street upon which it stands. There must 
also be compliance with the new height 
limits recently adopted by the Board of 
Estimate. 

Ques. 8:—Name three causes of com¬ 
plaints on tenement houses. 

ANS.:—1. Defects in construction. 2. De¬ 
fects in maintenance. 3. Defects in con¬ 
dition. 

Ques. 9:—Who are responsible for the 
above? Answer in the order given. 

ANS.:—1. Real estate men and builders. 

2. Owner of house, agent or housekeeper. 

3. Tenant or occupant. 

Ques. 10:—In inspecting the roof of a 
tenement house, what would you look for? 

ANS.:—The roof proper snould be free 
from defects and leaks. Gutters on same 
should be in good repair and tight. The 
chimney, pipes, bulkheads, scuttles and tank 
on roof should be clean and in good order. 

Ques. 11:—In regard to water tanks in 
tenement houses, what regulations should 
be enforced? 

ANS.:—They should be properly con¬ 
structed, accessible, well covered, water¬ 
tight, easily cleaned and must be often 
emptied entirely, scraped and cleaned. The 
overflow from the tank should not discharge 
into the leaders or other house pipes, but 
should be let down into the cellar by sepa¬ 
rate pipe to discharge into the sink. The 
washers on the water faucets should be re¬ 
newed once in a while to prevent leakage. 

Ques. 12:—In what manner must the stair- 
halls of tenements four stories in height be 
enclosed? What may be the construction 
if the tenement does not exceed three stor¬ 
ies? 

ANS.:—Tenements not exceeding four 
stories in height shall have stair-hails en¬ 
closed in all with brick walls OR with par¬ 
titions of angle iron and fireproof blocks 
not les's than four inches thick. 

Three-storied buildings may have stair- 
halls enclosed with wooden stud partitions 
covered on both sides with metal lath and 
plaster or with one-half inch plaster boards; 
the space between the studs to be filled in 
with brick to the height of the floor beams. 

Ques. 13:—Under what conditions may a 
house drain be connected to two buildings? 

ANS.:—House drains cannot be connected 
to two buildings. 

Ques. 14:—Answer the following ques¬ 
tion with “yes” or “no”: (a) Is a cellar 

with ceiling three feet above the curb level 
a story? (b) May paint be stored in a fire¬ 
proof building? (c) Is a yard required for 
a tenement house on a corner lot? (d) Does 
a room 5 feet by 14 feet floor area comply 
with the law? (e) May four adults and a 
child under 12 years old occupy a room 20 
feet long, 10 feet wide and 9 feet high? 

ANS.:—(a) Yes. (b) Yes, under permit 
from Fire Department, (c) Yes. (d) Yes. 
(e) Yes. 


Ques. 15:—What is the remedy in each 
of the following cases? (a) A tenant in an 
apartment house is annoyed by odors aris¬ 
ing from the garbage and stagnant water in 
an adjoining vacant lot? (b) The noise of 
machinery in a printing establishment dis¬ 
turbs the rest of the tenants in adjacent 
houses? 

ANS.:—(a) The Department of Health 
must be notified, and they will compel the 
owner of such lot to clean lot of garbage 
and water and disinfect site, (b) This is 
also a case for Department of Health. The 
Department will compel them, if in day 
time, to use appliances so that as little noise 
is made as possible. If between 10 p. m. 
and 6 a. m., if noise is very bad and cannot 
be modified to a considerable degree, it 
must be discontinued entirely. 

Ques. 16:—What do you understand by 
the term “trap” when used in plumbing? 

ANS.:—A trap is a bend in a pipe so 
constructed as to hold a certain volume of 
water, this water being called the water 
seal, which serves as a barrier to prevent 
air and gas from the sewer entering the 
house. 

Ques. 17:—In a new tenement house a 
room is 20 feet long, 7 feet 6 inches wide 
and 8 feet high, with a flat ceiling. Does it 
comply with the law? (b) What should be 
the window area? 

ANS.:—(a) No; it should be at least 9 
feet high, (b) Fifteen square feet. 

Ques. 18:—(a) If the height of a tene¬ 
ment house exceeds 60 feet, what changes 
must be made in the unoccupied portion of 
the lot? (Exact figures are not required.) 
(b) Name the portions affected. 

ANS.:—(a) Yards and courts must be 
increased in size in proportion to the in¬ 
crease in height of tenement house, (b) 
Yards, inner and outer courts. 

Ques. 19:—What is the difference between 
a yard and a court? 

ANS.:—A yard is an open unoccupied 
space on same lot as the tenement, between 
extreme rear line of house and the rear of 
the lot. A court is an open unoccupied 
space, other than a yard, on same lot as a 
tenement house. 

Ques. 20:—What is the difference between 
an Outer and Inner Court? 

ANS.:—A court extending to the yard 
or street is an Outer Court. A court not 
extending to the yard or street is an Inner 
Court. 

Ques. 21:—What are the principal provi¬ 
sions of the Tenement House Law in ref¬ 
erence to windows in living rooms of tene¬ 
ments for purposes of light and ventilation? 

ANS.:—Windows in new tenements must 
contain 1-10 of superficial area of room but 
not less than 12 square feet between stop 
beads; must open on a.street or legal yard 
or court. Top of such windows shall not 
be less than 7 feet 6 inches above the floor, 
and the upper half shall be made so as to 

19 


open the full width. In old houses there 
shall be windows of 12 square feet opening 
on street or yard not less than four feet 
deep, or above roof of adjoining building, 
or upon a court or shaft not less than 20 
square feet in area open to the sky without 
roof or skylight, or have a 3 foot by 5 foot 
pulley-hung sash window opening to anoth¬ 
er room which opens to street, yard, etc., 
or itself connects by a similar window or 
series of windows to such out-room. 

Ques. 22:—(a) Where and how must con¬ 
crete be used in tenement house construc¬ 
tion? (b) What constitutes good concrete? 

ANS.:—(a) Concrete used in paving cel¬ 
lars, yards, courts, shafts, etc., should be 
4 inches thick with a finished surface, (b) 
Good concrete is a mixture of sand, broken 
stone and cement in proper proportions; 
generally one part cement, three parts sand 
and five parts broken stone mixed with 
proper percentage of water. 

Ques. 23:—Describe a pan water-closet? 

ANS.:—A pan closet is constructed as 
follows: A basin of china, round, of about 
18 inches diameter, is fitted into a wooden 
seat under which is a 6-inch copper pan. 
These are placed in a large iron container 
and a “d” trap attached to the container. A 
lever and pull is attached to the pan, which 
when pulled empties the contents of the 
pan into the container and trap. 

Ques. 24:—What objections, if any, do 
you see to the pan closet? 

ANS.:—There are a number of objections 
to the use of the pan closet, among which 
are the following: There are a number of 
parts and mechanical contrivances which 
frequently get out of order, and as the bowl, 
is set into the container it is not being read¬ 
ily inspected and is very dirty underneath; 
and as the container is larger, fecal mat¬ 
ter frequently adheres to its sides and the 
iron becomes corroded and gutted with 
filth. Also foul air enters the house when¬ 
ever the handle is pulled. The pan breaks 
easily and often gets out of order. They 
are a very bad type of water-closet and 
their use is prohibited by the Tenement 
House Department and by the plumbing 
rules and regulations. 

Ques. 25:—How would you test a trap 
with a view of finding out whether its seal 
is lost or not? 

ANS.:—By sounding it; if it gives off a 
dull heavy sound, it is full. By holding a 
candle to inlet of pipe or fixture above trap; 
if candle blows inward toward trap, seal is 
lost; if it remains undisturbed, trao is full. 

Ques. 26:—What is meant by siphonage? 

ANS.:—Siphonage is the emptving of the 
seal in the trap by the water in the trap 
being drawn downward, caused by the sud¬ 
den rush of the water and air in the pipes 
connected with the trap. 

Ques. 27:—Describe a sink. 

ANS.:—A sink is a receptacle for the dis¬ 
posal of waste water in kitchens and other 
places. 


Ques. 28:—What do you understand by 
the term “back pressure”? 

ANS.:—Back pressure is the fouling or 
unsealing of the trap from behind caused 
bv undue pressure of the air in the pipes 
which may have been expanded by heat, 
water, etc. 

Ques. 29:—How are siphonage and back 
pressure guarded against? 

ANS.:—By ventilating all traps with 
branch vent pipes connected to the main 
vent. This main vent ventilates the drain¬ 
age system of the house and should be ex¬ 
tended above the roof. 

Ques. 30:—The water supply in a five- 
stcry tenement house on the upper floors 
is found inadequate. Pipes are of regula¬ 
tion size and in good condition. What 
would you recommend to remedy the defect 
in the condition? 

ANS.:—A properly covered house supply 
tank should be provided, with pumps to sup¬ 
ply pressure, if necessary. 

Ques. 31:—How should sinks be con¬ 
structed? 

ANS.:—Sinks must be set level and pro¬ 
vided with a strainer at the outlet to pre¬ 
vent large particles of kitchen refuse from 
being swept into the waste pipe and ob¬ 
structing it. The sink must be connected 
to the house drain by a properly trapped 
waste line. If possible, the back and sides 
of the sink should be cast from one piece. 
The back and sides, if of wood, should be 
covered by non-absorbent material, sheet- 
metal, to prevent the wood from becoming 
saturated with waste water. No woodwork 
should enclose sinks; they should be sup¬ 
ported on iron legs and be open beneath 
and around. The trap of the sink is usu¬ 
ally two inches in diameter, and should be 
kept in good condition. A branch vent pipe 
should be connected to the trap. 

Ques. 32:—Name two parts of a tenement 
house which must be painted in light colors, 
giving the reasons. 

ANS.:—The cellars, shafts, courts, etc. 
Light paint helps to make lighter the rooms 
facing on same, as the light is more easily 
reflected from a light color. 

Ques. 33:—What are the principal objec¬ 
tions to earthenware house drains? 

ANS.:—They are porous and therefore 
not gas-tight, easily broken, and are inac¬ 
cessible for cleaning, as they are generally 
underground. 

Ques. 34:—(a) Can two buildings be con¬ 
nected by one plumbing system? (b) Are 
cesspools and privy vaults allowed within 
the city limits? 

ANS.:—(a) No. (b) Only where there 
is no sewer connection in the street. 

Ques. 35:—What are the plumbing regu¬ 
lations in regard to installing new house 
drains in tenements? 

ANS.:—New house drains must be of ex¬ 
tra heavy cast-iron and should be placed 

20 


above ground if possible. The size should 
be at least four inches in diameter and 
they should be provided wi'h a house or 
main disconnecting trap and a fresh air 
inlet. They should be supported at inter¬ 
vals of ten feet and be provided with an 
arched or other proper opening in the wall 
where the drain enters same, so as to pre¬ 
vent damage by settling. They should be 
set at proper pitch. 

Ques. 36:—Compare, from a sanitary 
standpoint, a long hopper and short hop¬ 
per closet. 

ANS.:—The trap should be placed as 
near the fixture as possible, which you will 
find in the short hopper. The long hopper 
has its trap several feet from the bowl, un¬ 
der the floor, and is used mainly in water- 
closets in yards, or where the trap is liable 
to freeze. 

Ques. 37:—What is meant by: House 
drain, house sewer, private sewer and street 
sewer? 

ANS.:-—The house drain is the main hori¬ 
zontal pipe of the building, beginning at the 
termination of the vertical pipes 'and con¬ 
necting to the house sewer two feet out¬ 
side of the walls of the building. The house 
sewer begins at a point two feet beyond 
the outer wall of the building and connects 
with the main street or private sewer. A 
private sewer is a street sewer not con¬ 
structed under the supervision of the Bu¬ 
reau of Sewers, but is constructed by pri¬ 
vate enterprise where there is no public 
sewer. A street sewer is the main city 
sewer which receives the flow from all 
buildings and empties into the place of dis¬ 
charge. 

Ques. 38:—How is the water test applied 
to the plumbing system? 

ANS.:—The water test is applied by the 
closing of the lower end of the main house 
drain and filling the pipes with water to 
the highest opening above the roof. It 
should include all vertical and horizontal 
pipes in all branches and all branches to 
the point above the floor line. When the 
pipes are filled each separate line should be 
followed from its highest point to the drain 
and also the drain to the main trap. All 
pipes should be followed closely to look 
for openings or defective joints which may 
be detected by water or dampness on the 
pipe. 

Ques. 39:—(a) What is the composition 
of mortar for building purposes? (b) What 
are metal laths? 

ANS.:—Mortar is a composition of slaked 
lime, sand and wa"er. (b) Metal laths are 
narrow strips of metal of different compo¬ 
sitions, such as tin, zinc, brass, copper. 
They are used to support plaster. The 
metal laths are used when fireproofing is 
required. 

Ques. 40:—What is the best form of trap 
for sink waste pipes? 

ANS.:—“S.” 


Ques. 41:—What is the best form of trap 
for house drains? 

ANS.:—Running. 

Ques. 42:—What is required by the law 
as to refrigerator drains? 

ANS.:—They must not be connected di¬ 
rectly to the sewer or plumbing of house, 
but must empty into properly trapped, 
sewer-connected, water-supplied open sink. 

Ques. 43:—What are the requirements of 
the Tenement House Law in regard to the 
maintenance of public sinks in existing tene¬ 
ment houses? 

ANS.:—The woodwork enclosing sinks 
located in the public halls or stairways shall 
be removed and the space underneath said 
sinks be left open. The floors and walls 
beneath and around the sink shall be main¬ 
tained in good order and repair, and if 
wood kept well painted with light colored 
paint. 

Ques. 44:—What are the regulations of 
the Tenement House Department in regard 
to ventilating water-closet new compart¬ 
ments in existing tenement houses? 

ANS.:—Such compartments shall have a 
window opening directly upon the street 
or yard, not less than four feet deep, or a 
shaft or court not less than 25 square feet 
in area, open to the sky, without roof or 
skylight. Such window shall be at least 
1x3 between stop beads, except when lo¬ 
cated on top floor or at the bot.om of the 
shaft or court of lawful size and is lighted 
and ventilated by a skylight containing three 
square feet of glass. Such compartment 
shall have means for lighting at nignt. 

Ques. 45:—What material would you con¬ 
sider best in a tenement house for the fol¬ 
lowing named purposes: Leaders, tubs, 
sinks, and vent pipes? 

ANS.:—Leaders: If inside the building, 
cast-iron; if outside, they can be of sheet 
metal. Best materials for tubs: porcelain 
and stone. Best material for sinks: porce¬ 
lain and cast-iron. Best material for vent, 
soil and waste pipes: extra heavy cast-iron. 

Ques. 46:—Name four sources of water 
in cellars. 

ANS.:—Tide water, coming from oceans, 
rivers and bays when houses are near wa¬ 
terfront; water from leaky mains and 
drains; sub-soil water from underground 
streams, springs, etc., and water from ice 
refrigerators and mineral water factories. 

Ques. 47:—What points would you ob¬ 
serve when inspecting a water-closet? 

ANS.:—It should not be used by more 
than two families. Its trap should be above 
the floor, unless exposed to freezing. _ All 
pipes and connections should be gas-tight. 
It should have a proper flush, and said flush 
should effectively clean the bowl at each 
discharge. Compartments should be prop¬ 
erly lighted and ventilated. The sides, floor 
underneath water-closet, walls of compart¬ 
ment and the bowl of water-closet should 


21 


be clean and in good order. There should 
be provision for lighting at night. 

Ques. 48:—What defects would you look 
for when inspecting iron pipes in a building? 

ANS.:—Would look for openings in the 
pipes. Would see that each fixture was 
separately trapped and that there was no 
other trap from the fixture to the main 
house trap. Where not more than three 
wash trays were connected to a single trap 
or into the trap of an adjoining sink, if 
the sink were nearest the waste line and 
the waste outlets of all of the fixtures were 
on the same side of the waste lines, separate 
traps for each fixture would not be neces¬ 
sary. Would see that all hubs and connec¬ 
tions were properly caulked and that traps 
had proper seals; also that there were no 
open hubs, or open disused pipes. Where 
pipes are being installed, I would see that 
they were of proper weight, as called for 
in the plumbing regulations. All waste, 
soil and vent pipes or combinations should 
be extended above the roof well away from 
any window or an adjoining building. 

Ques. 49:—How would you judge the 
value of a plumbing trap? 

ANS.:—On the strength, depth and per¬ 
manency of the water seal; on its uniform¬ 
ity, simplicity, accessibility and self-clean¬ 
ing character. 

Ques. 50:—(a) How would you determine 
when it is necessary to have damp-proofing 
in tenement constructicn? (b) Mention the 
materials principally used in damp-proofing, 
and describe the way in which they are used. 

ANS.:—(a) This depends on the condi¬ 
tion of the soil and location of the build¬ 
ing. If the soil is dry and there is no dan¬ 
ger of tide waters and there are no under¬ 
ground streams, or other sources of caus¬ 
ing the walls and foundations to be damp, 
damp-proofing is unnecessary, (b) Mate¬ 
rials are tarred-felt and burlap. They should 
be laid in alternate layers and project six 
inches inside and six inches outside the 
walls; also on the outside of the walls 
there should be two-ply tarfelt laid in hot 
pitch, extending up to the soil level. 

Ques. 51:—Name three materials which 
may be used for water-proofing the floor of 
a properly constructed water-closet, giving 
a brief description of each. 

ANS.:—Tile, asphalt, slate or any natural 
stone. Tile is baked clay cut into small 
shapes. Asphalt is a variety of pitch fotind 
in the earth. Slate is a natural stone with 
a smooth surface and little thickness. 

Ques. 52:—What are the regulations of 
the Sanitary Code as regards the use of 
well-water in tenement houses? 

ANS.:—Water from wells other than the 
public water supply should not be used in 
a tenement house without a permit from 
the Board of Health. 

Ques. 58:—What is wired glass, and for 
what is it mainly used? 


ANS.:—Wired glass is a thick double- 
plated glass, threaded inside with wire, used 
mainly for fire protection in transoms over 
doors and panels, as it is not easily broken 
and is a fire retardent. 

Ques. 54:—Describe sewer, and describe 
what materials made of. 

ANS.:—A sewer is a conduit of pipe in¬ 
tended for the passage of sewerage, waste 
and water. Sewers are made of iron, brick, 
cement and vitrified pipe. 

Ques. 55:—Define soil pipe and main 
waste pipe. 

ANS.:—Soil pipe is a vertical pipe or 
pipes receiving sewerage matter from the 
water-closets in the house. The main waste 
pipe receives waste water from any fix¬ 
ture except the water-closet. 

Ques. 5G:—What should be done in re¬ 
gard to areaways and courts? 

ANS.:—They should be properly graded, 
drained and kept clean. 

Ques. 57:—In what way must openings 
in pipes be closed after a fixture has been 
removed? 

ANS.:—All open iron hubs and ends must 
be closed, with an iron plug and caulked 
around. Lead branches should be removed. 

Ques. 58:—How must joints in iron drain 
pipes be connected? 

ANS.:—The end of one length must be 
fitted into the hub end of the other length, 
the opening filled with oakum and lead, and 
caulked to make same gas-tight. 

Ques. 59:—In what manner must connec¬ 
tions of lead pipe be made with iron pipes? 

ANS.:-—Connection is made by a brass 
ferrule which is connected to the iron pipe 
by a lead caulked joint and to the lead pipe 
by a wiped or overcast joint. 

Ques. 60:—How must connections of lead 
waste pipes be made? 

ANS.:—-By wiped or overcast joints, i. e., 
the lead is melted and wiped around the 
connection of lead pipes, making same gas- 
tight. 

Ques. 61:—In a bathroom it is proposed 
to place a trap three feet away from a wa¬ 
ter-closet, that it may be connected with 
the waste pipe from a bathtub. State 
whether this is permissible, giving your 
reasons. 

ANS.:—Not permissible; traps must be 
placed as close to the fixture outlet as pos¬ 
sible, but not more than two feet away. 
Also, each fixture must be separately 
trapped. 

Ques. 62:—-In yards of tenement houses 
which are built in rows, what sanitary regu¬ 
lations would you insist upon? 

ANS.:—Yards should be properly flagged 
or cemented, and so graded that the sur¬ 
face water, if any there be, is discharged 
P ro P er ly trapped sewer-connected 
dram. Yards should be swept clean and 
kept free from rubbish. 


Ques. 63:—Are earthenware house drains 
permitted in a tenement? Why? 

ANS.:—No. They are not absolutely gas- 
tight, being slightly porous. They are eas¬ 
ily broken, large, and not readily cleaned, 
being underground and not accessible. 

Ques. 64:—How are rain leaders attached 
to sewers? 

ANS.:—Metal leader discharges into a 
4-inch extra heavy cast-iron drain pipe, ex¬ 
tending 5 feet above the ground, which is 
trapped and connected to drain. 

Ques. 65:—How would you make a pep¬ 
permint test? 

ANS.:—First, inspect thoroughly plumb¬ 
ing of house and note position of all pipes 
and traps; make fresh air inlet air-tight by 
plugging; see that all doors and windows 
and openings to air are closed tightly; order 
tenants not to use fixtures; secure pail of 
hot water and go to roof; seal all pipes 
at roof except main soil. Pour the pail of 
peppermint into soil pipe followed by hot 
water; follow course of water through soil, 
waste pipes and house drain, noting any 
odor of escaping peppermint. Wherever 
such odor is noted, look for a break in the 
pipe. 

Ques. 66:—Give briefly the provisions of 
the Tenement House Law in regard to rail¬ 
ings of fire-escapes. 

ANS.:—Top rails shall be of wrought iron 
1 |4 inches by }4 inch, or 154 inches by 54 
inch angle iron, and shall go through wall 
at each end, and be secured by nuts and 
4-inch square washers, inch thick. Bot¬ 
tom rails shall be of 154 inches by Y inch 
wrought iron, or 154 inches by 54 i nc h angle, 
leaded or cemented into wall. 

Ques. 67:—What is meant by each of the 
following: “Filling in bars or standards,” 
“angle iron,” “cast iron”? 

ANS.:—Filling in bars or standards are 
round or square wrought iron bars 54 inch 
square, extending from top to bottom rails 
entirely around balcony of fire-escape. An¬ 
gle iron is wrought iron bent and shaped 
to form a right angle. Cast iron is iron 
melted and cast in a mold. 

Ques. 68:—What ventilation is required in 
the new skylight placed in a tenement 
house? 

ANS.:—All new skylights should be pro¬ 
vided with ridge ventilators having a mini¬ 
mum opening of 40 square inches, and with 
either fixed or movable louvres or with 
movable sashes. 

Ques. 69:—Where and under what restric¬ 
tions can new wooden tenements be erected? 

ANS.:—No tenements can hereafter be 
erected of wood within the fire limits. Out¬ 
side of the fire limits they may be erected 
not more than three stories and not more 
than 40 feet in height, and contain no more 
than four families, two on each floor, if 
two stories in height, or three families, one 
on each floor, if three stories in height. 


Ques. 70:—In existing tenements what 
egress to the roof is required? 

ANS.:—Existing tenement houses shall 
be provided with either bulkhead or a scut¬ 
tle in the roof above a public hall. Scuttles 
shall not be less than 21 inches by 28 
inches, metal covered on the outside and 
provided with stationary ladder. Bulkheads 
shall be provided with stairs with a hand¬ 
rail leading to the roof. Bulkhead doors 
and scuttle covers shall contain no locks, 
but may have hooks or bolts, and should 
not be fastened or encumbered in any way. 
Scuttle covers, if large and heavy, should be 
provided with hinges. 

Ques. 71:—Can wooden tenements be in¬ 
creased in size within the fire limits, or 
outbuildings or extensions added to a wood¬ 
en tenement when on the same lot? 

ANS.:—No wooden tenement can be in¬ 
creased in size, enlarged, extended or raised 
within the fire limits, and no wooden ex¬ 
tension or outbuilding can be placed on the 
same lot as a tenement within the fire lim¬ 
its, except that water-closet extensions may 
be added thereto, provided that they do not 
exceed 70 square feet total area and are 
used only for bathrooms or water-closets. 

Ques. 72:—What does the Tenement 
House Department require in the case of 
bakeries and places where fat is boiled? 

ANS.:—No bakery or place of business 
in which fat is boiled shall be maintained 
in a non-fireproof tenement house, unless 
the ceiling, side walls and all exposed iron 
or wooden columns or girders within the 
bakery are properly fireproofed. There, can 
be no doors, windows, shafts or other open¬ 
ings between said bakery (or place where 
fat is boiled) to any other part of the build¬ 
ing; except that in bakeries where no fat 
is boiled a properly fireproofed dumbwaiter 
is allowed from the bakery to the story 
above. 

Ques. 73:—What does the Tenement 
House Law require in regard to alcoves 
and alcove rooms in new tenement houses? 

ANS.:—They should be separately light¬ 
ed and ventilated by windows as required 
for other rooms and be not less than 70 
square feet in area. No part of such room 
shall be enclosed or subdivided by a curr 
tain, portiere, partition or other device, and 
should be separately lighted and ventilated. 

Ques. 74:—The law requires that stair¬ 
ways on the fire-escapes shall be placed at 
an angle of not more than 60 degrees. From 
what line is this angle determined? 

ANS.:—From the floor line of the fire- 
escape balcony. 

Ques. 75:—What is the distinction be¬ 
tween courts on the lot line and other 
courts as to size? 

ANS.:—Courts not on the lot line are re¬ 
quired to be just twice the size of courts 
on lot line. 


23 


Ques. 76: —Define the following words 
used in a fire-escape connection: “battens,” 
“clear headway,” Aread,” “strings,” “brack¬ 
ets.” 

ANS.:—“Battens” are wrought iron cross¬ 
pieces placed crosswise and riveted to the 
floor-slats of the balcony and separating 
them to keep them in proper position. 

“Clear headway” is the term used to in¬ 
dicate the amount of space between the 
floor of balcony and the brace of the string 
of the stairway, which should be over seven 
feet from the floor, so that a person may 
have clear headway or sufficient room to 
pass underneath same without striking. 

“Treads” are the steps of the stairway 
or ladder between fire-escape balconies. 

The “string” is the upright iron piece to 
which treads are fastened. 

“Brackets” are long, solid wrought iron 
bars extending underneath and across the 
fire-escape balcony, supporting the same 
and running into the wall where they are 
fastened. These iron bars are supported in 
turn by heavy iron braces to the wall. 

Ques. 77:—(a) How deep must a yard be 
for a tenement house 75 feet high built on 
an interior lot? (b) Where is the measure¬ 
ment taken? 

ANS.:—(a) 14 feet, (b) From the ex¬ 
treme rear wall of the house to the rear 
line of the lot. 

Ques. 78:—What must be the minimum 
area of a vent flue in a new tenement house 
in which passenger power elevators are 
operated? 

ANS.:—Three square feet is the minimum 
area. 

Ques. 79: —What must be the minimum 
size and area for a shaft used to light and 
ventilate rooms used for living purposes 
in an existing tenement, and under what 
conditions may this be reduced? 

ANS.:—Not less than 4 feet in width in 
any part, nor less than 25 square feet in 
area. Cannot be reduced. 

Ques. 80:—What rooms may have win¬ 
dows opening into vent shafts? 

ANS.:—Bathrooms and water-closets. 

Ques. 81:—Is there any difference between 
the expression “3 feet square” and “3 square 
feet”? 

ANS.:—Yes; 3 feet square is 3 feet by 3 
feet, or 9 square feet. Three square feet 
is the area of 1 foot by 3 feet, or any com¬ 
bination making 3 square feet; therefore 
the difference is 6 square feet. 

Ques. 82:—What do you mean by the 
term “percentage” in the expression “65 
per cent, of the lot surface”? 

ANS.:—Percentage of lot is the portion 
of the lot computed on a basis of one hun¬ 
dred; therefore, 65 per cent, is 65 one-hun¬ 
dredths of the lot surface. 

Ques. 83:—Give your definition of a fresh 
air pipe and the proper connections to make 
it most effective. 


ANS.:—The fresh air pipe or inlet is the 
pipe used to ventilate the house drain. It 
is connected on the house side of the main 
trap and runs through the wall of the build¬ 
ing to the outer air, where it should be 
extended above the court or area and fitted 
with a return bend. It should be made of 
extra heavy cast-iron and should not be 
obstructed in any way. 

Ques. 84:—What is the difference be¬ 
tween vent shafts and air shafts? 

ANS.:—A vent shaft is one used to ven¬ 
tilate or light a water-closet compartment 
or bathroom. An airshaft is a shaft used 
for bedrooms or living rooms. 

Ques. 85:—What are the requirements 
for soil pipes in tenements, how should they 
be supported, how terminated at top, and 
how attached to house drain? 

ANS.:—The soil pipes should be at least 
4 inches in diameter, of extra heavy cast- 
iron, and if tenement is five or more stories 
it should be 5 inches. It should run as 
directly as possible. It should be support¬ 
ed by heavy iron hangers at intervals of 
not more than 10 feet. It should be ex¬ 
tended above the roof and fitted with wire, 
basket. It should never be fitted with a 
cap or cowl or have a return bend. It 
should be attached to the house drain by 
an 8th or 16th bend and caulked into the 
hub of drain. 

Ques. 86:—What kind of tenements must 
be fireproof? What are the most common 
fireproof materials? Describe how these 
materials are to be used in floor construc¬ 
tion, partitions, and the casing of posts, gir¬ 
ders, trusses, etc. 

ANS.:—Every tenement house hereafter 
erected more than six stories in height shall 
be fireproofed, or any tenement altered to 
more than six s'.ories. Fireproof materials 
are hardburnt clay, terra cotta, metal laths, 
slate and stone. Floors shall be of iron 
or steel beams with fireproof filling. Par¬ 
titions shall rest directly on the fireproof 
floor construction and extend to the fire¬ 
proof filling above. Post girders and trusses 
shall be enclosed with hardburnt clay or 
porous terra cotta, or in the case of hollow 
iron posts they may be filled with such 
material. 

Ques. 87:—Name the principal vertical 
and horizontal pipes in the plumbing sys¬ 
tem of a tenement house and their uses. 

ANS.:—The principal vertical pipes ,are 
main waste, main soil and main vent. The 
waste pipe carries away the water from the 
sinks, wash tubs, bath tubs, etc. The soil 
pipe, from water-closets, with or without 
other fixtures. The vent pipe is used to 
ventilate the plumbing system and connects 
to main wastes and soils. Principal hori¬ 
zontal pipes are house drains and house 
sewers. The house drain receives sewerage 
from main waste and soil, and two feet 
outside walls of building connects to house 
sewer, which in turn conects to street 
sewer. 


24 


Ques. 88:—What is a trap? State sev¬ 
eral kinds of traps. Tell which are best, 
and why. 

ANS.:—A trap is an arrangement in a 
pipe which holds and locks a certain amount 
of water within, itself, causing a water seal 
and preventing air from passing through. 
Different traps are “S,” “running,” “D,” 
“Bell,” “bottle” and “mason’s cesspool.” 
The best are “S” and “running,” which are 
simple, easily cleaned and contain no in¬ 
terior mechanisms to get out of order. 

Ques. 89:—What is a gooseneck ladder? 
A drop ladder? When required? 

ANS.:—A gooseneck ladder is one which 
extends from the top balcony of a fire- 
escape, to and above the roof. A drop lad¬ 
der is a ladder reaching from lowest bal¬ 
cony to ground. A gooseneck ladder is 
required on all fire-escapes erected on rear 
of building. A drop ladder is required on 
all. 

Ques. 90:—What is the difference be¬ 
tween a basement and a cellar? 

ANS.:—A basement is a story partly, but 
not more than one-half, below the level of 
the curb. Cellar is a story more than one- 
half below the curb. 

Ques. 91:—Name five of the most com¬ 
mon types of water-closets and state which 
are permissible to be placed in rooms of a 
tenement house and in yard of a tenement 
house. 

ANS.:—Types of water-closets are wash¬ 
out, long hopper, short hopper, pan, offset 
and siphon. Washout and siphon are per¬ 
mitted in houses. Long hoppers in yard. 

Ques. 92:—What is the difference between 
long and short hoppers, and why are not 
short hoppers permitted in yards? 

ANS.:—Long hoppers have traps under 
floor, and short hoppers above floors. Long 
hoppers are necessary in yard in order to 
prevent freezing of trap. 

Ques. 93:—(a) What is a privy? (b) A 
cesspool? 

ANS.:—(a) A privy is a brick-lined iron 
trough dug into the ground to receive fecal 
matter. Above this trough a wooden com¬ 
partment is erected, with seats. The trough 
generally has an outlet, through which ar¬ 
rangement the contents of the privy can be 
removed, (b) A cesspool is a brick trough 
dug iiTo the ground to receive the waste 
water discharged from the house sewer. 

Ques. 91:—When a privy is to be re¬ 
moved, what is the method to be pursued? 

ANS.:—Privy is to be cleaned and dis¬ 
infected, vault removed, bricks tumbled into 
pit and pit filled with fresh earth and steam 
ashes. 

Ques. 95:—What are the sanitary require¬ 
ments as to walls and ceilings of public 
halls and rooms of tenements? 

ANS.:—They shall be kept clean at all 
times, whitewashed or painted with a light 
colored paint, and if covered with old dirty 


or torn paper, said paper shall be removed 
before painting. The new waif paper shall 
not be placed over old wall paper, and de¬ 
fective paper should be first removed. 

Ques. 96:—In inspection of stables, what 
conditions would you note in making your 
report? 

ANS.:—The cleanliness and condition of 
the stalls and floors of stable; the material 
of said floor; removal of all manure. Would 
see whether there were proper valley drains, 
and if they were properly trapped and sewer 
connected. The distance of stable from 
any building used for living purposes. 


PRACTICE QUESTIONS BY A TENE¬ 
MENT HOUSE INSPECTOR. 

Ques. 97:—Does the law permit a tene¬ 
ment house to be built on a lot the rear of 
which is already occupied by a tenement 
house? State the law affecting this. 

ANS.:—The law provides that no sepa¬ 
rate tenement house shall be erected upon 
the front of any lot the rear of which is 
already occupied by a tenement. 

Ques. 98:—Upon what floors shall a light 
be kept burning at night, and by whom? 

ANS.:—From sunset to sunrise a proper 
light shall be kept burning on the entrance 
hall and on the second floor above the en¬ 
trance hall, near the stairs, and upon all 
other floors from sunset until 10 o’clock in 
the evening, by the owner of the tenement. 

Ques. 99:—As an Inspector you are sent 
to examine a building the lowest floor of 
which is below the level of the curb. How 
would you report the same, and how would 
you ascertain whether to report it a “base¬ 
ment” or a “cellar”? 

ANS.:—I would measure such lower floor 
to ascertain the height from floor to ceil¬ 
ing, and then the depth of the floor below 
the curb level. If the floor is more than 
half below the curb level I would report it 
a “cellar”; if less below and more above, 
T would report it a “basement.” 

Ques. 100:—Define a shaft. 

ANS.:—A shaft includes exterior or in¬ 
terior shafts, whether for air, elevator, 
dumbwaiter, light or any other purpose. 

Ques. 101:—Does the law provide for the 
nrnimum window area of a room? If so, 
what? 

ANS.:—In new tenements the law pro¬ 
vides that the total window area in each 
room, except water-closet and bathroom 
compartments, shall be at least one-tenth 
of the superficial area of the room, but no 
such window shall be less than 12 square 
feet in area between stop beads. 

Ques. 102:—Give dimensions of the small¬ 
est room allowed in a new tenement house. 

ANS.:—9 feet high from the finished floor 
to the finished ceiling, and should have at 
least 70 square feet of floor space. 


25 



Ques. 103:—Who are liable in case of a 
violation in a tenement house which is be¬ 
ing built or altered? 

ANS.:—The owner, agent, builder, con¬ 
tractor, architect, sub-contractor, superin¬ 
tendent or foreman. 

Ques. 104:—While making an inspection 
you found a violation, and the owner asked 
you to tell him what you found; what would 
you do? 

ANS.:- —I would tell him that I must re¬ 
port my findings to the office first and that 
it was against the rules to divulge any in¬ 
formation. 

Ques. 105:—How shall the ceilings be con¬ 
structed in bakeries? 

ANS.:—The ceilings shall be of iron 
beams and fireproof filling. In tenements 
existing prior to April 28, 1901, the ceiling 
may be fireproofed by first applying wire 
lath and plaster, 1-inch fireproof furring 
strips on which are placed H-inch plaster 
boards properly jointed. 

Ques. 106:—What does the law provide 
as to floors in bakeries? 

ANS.:—The floors shall be of good qual¬ 
ity cement concrete, covered with hardwood 
flooring or covered with tiles laid in cement. 

Ques. 107:—What provision is made as 
to height of bakeries? 

ANS.:—Bakeries constructed in cellars 
of tenement houses since May 9, 1913, must 
be 10 feet in height. Prior to that time 8 
feet was the required height. 

Ques. 108:—Define a private dwelling. 

ANS.:—Every building intended or de¬ 
signed for, or used as, the home or resi¬ 
dence of not more than two families and 
in which not more than 15 rooms shall be 
used for the accommodations of boarders, 
and no part of the same is used as a store, 
is a private dwelling. 

Ques. 109:—Define a frame building. 

ANS.:—A frame building is one the ex¬ 
terior walls of which or a portion thereof 
shall be constructed of wood; also build¬ 
ings sheathed with boards and partially or 
entirely covered with four inches of brick 
work. 

Ques. 110:—In reporting on a stair-hall, 
what portions would you include? 

ANS.:—I would include the stairs, land¬ 
ings and all portions of the public halls 
through which it is necessary to pass in 
going from the entrance floor to the roof. 

Ques. Ill:—You are sent to examine a 
building on reaching which you find on the 
third floor there lives one family and on the 
second floor one family, each doing their 
cooking in their apartment. On the first 
floor there is a Chinese laundry (one per¬ 
son living, cooking and sleeping on the 
premises). Would you consider this a tene¬ 
ment house? If so, give reasons why. 

ANS.:—Yes. The Chinaman is consid¬ 
ered as a family, and there being three fam¬ 


ilies, each living and doing their cooking 
independently, 1 would report this as a 
tenement house. 

(NOTE:—While this is technically cor¬ 
rect, the Tenement House Department does 
not consider a Chinaman a family.) 

Ques. 112:—You are sent to report the 
height of a tenement house to ascertain 
whether the same complies with the Tene¬ 
ment House Act. How would you meas¬ 
ure the same? 

ANS.:—I would measure the perpendicu¬ 
lar distance from the curb level to the un¬ 
derside of the- roof beams in the center of 
the house. If the house were on a lot fac¬ 
ing two or more streets, I would measure 
through the center of the side facing the 
street with the greatest grade. 

Ques. 113:—In case of a violation of the 
Tenement House Act, what power is vest¬ 
ed in the department? 

ANS.:—If a building is altered or occu¬ 
pied contrary to law, it shall be deemed 
unlawful and the department may cause it 
to be vacated. 

Ques. 114:—Are any special provisions 
made for the lowest balcony fire-escape in 
a new tenement house? 

ANS.:—A drop ladder is required from 
the lowest balcony, which should be of 
sufficient length to reach from said balcony 
or platform to a safe landing place beneath. 

Ques. 115:—Does the law make any spe¬ 
cial provision regarding the width of the 
stairs? 

ANS.:—The stairs and public halls from 
the entrance floor to the roof to be at least 
3 feet wide. 

Ques. 116:—What is meant by winder? 

ANS.:—A stairway in a spiral form. 

Ques. 117:—When are “winders” allowed 
in tenement houses? 

ANS.:—“Winders” are permitted only 
where a power passenger elevator is pro¬ 
vided. The treads at the center to be 10 
inches wide. 

Ques. 118:—Is a transom allowed to open 
from a stair-hall into an apartment? 

ANS.:—The Tenement House Act pro¬ 
vides that no transom or movable sash 
shall open from any stair-hall to any other 
part of the house. 

Ques. 119:—On completion of a tenement 
house, how soon may the same be occupied? 

ANS.:—No tenement house is to be occu¬ 
pied in whole or part until a certificate is 
issued by the Tenement House Department, 
which shall be issued within ten days after 
application in writing for the same is made. 

Ques. 120:—What is the penalty in case 
a new tenement house is occupied before a 
certificate is issued? 

ANS.:—The Tenement House Depart¬ 
ment may order the same vacated. Also, 
no rent is recoverable for the period so 
occupied. 


Ques. 121:—What other city department 
may take action in case of such a viola¬ 
tion? 

ANS.:—The Department of Water Sup¬ 
ply shall not furnish water to such prem¬ 
ises. The Police Department may also be 
called upon. 

Ques. 122:—Of what material should the 
soil, waste and vent pipes be? 

ANS.:—Iron, steel or brass. 

Ques. 12B:—Does the law allow water- 
closets to be placed outside of a building 
for special reasons? 

ANS.:—Yes; where they are to replace 
school sinks or privy vaults. 

Ques. 124:—Name the styles of water- 
closets not permitted in a new tenement 
house. 

ANS.:—Hoppers, “pipe-wash” bowls, pan, 
valve and all other water-closets having an 
unventilated space or whose walls are not 
thoroughly washed at each discharge. Long 
hoppers will be permitted only where there 
is exposure to frost. 

Ques. 125:—Are iron cisterns for water- 
closets or urinals allowed in new tenements? 

ANS.:—No. Wooden cisterns should be 
copper-lined. 


Ques. 126:—Are wooden tubs allowed in 
tenement house apartments? 

ANS.:—No. 

Ques. 127:—What must be the cubical 
contents of an apartment for every person 
occupying the same? 

ANS.:—400 cubic feet of air for each 
adult person, and 200 for each child under 
12 years of age, in a room. 

Ques. 128:—A building erected for use of 
a private family is altered for use as a tene¬ 
ment house. What does the law provide? 

ANS.:—The law provides that the same 
should comply with all the rules and regu¬ 
lations affecting new tenement houses. 

Ques. 129:—What should be the depth of 
a yard behind a tenement 60 feet high on an 
interior lot? 

ANS.:—It should be 12 feet. 

Ques. 130:—What is meant by an “old 
law” tenement and a “new law” tenement? 

ANS.:—An “old law” tenement is a 
building that was used and occupied as a 
tenement on April 21, 1901. A “new law” 
tenement is a building erected since that 
time under the requirements of Tenement 
House Act. 


ANSWERS TO EXAMINATION QUESTIONS AND 
SPECIMEN QUESTIONS FOR INSPECTOR AND 
CHIEF INSPECTOR OF TENEMENTS AND LAY 
SANITARY INSPECTOR, NEW YORK CITY, NEW 
JERSEY AND CHICAGO. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 

LAY SANITARY AND TENEMENT 
HOUSE INSPECTOR. 

Date: July 3, 1912. 

SPECIAL—Weight 4. 

Answers Written for the Civil Service 
Chronicle 

BY JOHN J. HALLEY 

No. 1 on the List, with 93.40 Per Cent. 

(To be finished by 12.30 P. M.) 

Ques. 1:—(a) What use does a trap serve? 
(b) How is a trap sealed? (c) What forms 
of traps are ycu familiar with? (d) How 
is a trap ventilated? (e) How is a waste 
pipe ventilated? (f) What causes siphon- 
age? 

ANS.:—(a) A trap used in connection 
with the plumbing system of a building is 
designed and intended for the purpose of 


preventing the escape of noxious or noisome 
odors and drain air from the main waste, 
soil or drain pipes entering and pervading 
the room or apartment in which the fix¬ 
ture is located, and which would tend to 
contaminate the supply of fresh air in the 
room, causing same to become deleterious. 

For this reason, all sewer-connected 
plumbing fixtures must be provided with a 
proper trap located within two feet of the 
fixture, except that when wash-trays imme¬ 
diately adjoin a sink, the waste pipe of same 
may be connected with the waste pipe of 
the sink, or the heel of the trap, on the 
fixture side; if it is connected on the sewer 
side of the trap, it would serve as a “by¬ 
pass,” thereby allowing the drain air from 
the main waste or soil pipe to escape and 
enter the room through the inlet and over¬ 
flow openings in the fixture. 

(b) Traps of plumbing fixtures are con¬ 
structed and designed in various forms and 
shapes, but the main principle is that they 
be able to hold in the bend of the pipe a 
sufficient supply of water so as to form a 
“water seal,” thereby preventing the drain 


27 




air from passing from the main waste or 
soil pipe througn the inlet of overflow pipe 
openings of the fixture entering the room 
and pervading the atmosphere with impure 
air; same being detrimental to health. 

When a sewer-connected fixture is not 
to be used for any length of time, such as 
during the summer months when the house 
is not fully occupied, the fixture traps are 
sealed by means of a heavier and non-evap¬ 
orating liquid, instead of water, such as trap 
oil or glycerine. When the fixtures are 
required tor use again the oil is released 
for use again by unscrewing the plug at 
the bottom of same and releasing the oil. 

(c) The full S. S. Vz S. Running or 
House trap with handhole cleanouts, se¬ 
cured GAb-tight by means of heavy brass 
screw cap ferrules. 

Rain leader or deep seal trap. 

Bell trap, used for yard, area and stable 
floor surface drainage. 

Mason’s cesspool and pot traps. 

Grease traps, used in kitchens of restau¬ 
rants, hotels, etc. 

P. Q. and D. traps (the latter used in 
connection with pan water-closets). 

Bottle trap, floating ball, and various 
styles of mechanical traps. The latter are 
unsatisfactory for the reason that they fre¬ 
quently get out of order and are easily, 
clogged up with grease and sediment. Any 
trap or fix'ure that depends on mechanical 
parts or interior mechanism for the main¬ 
tenance of its “water seal” should be ta¬ 
booed by a Sanitary Inspector. Fixture 
traps are generally of lead, wrought iron, 
or brass, nickel-plated, except that modern 
water-closets of earthenware have interior 
partitions of same material cast into the 
fixture which traps a volume of water that 
acts as a seal. 

House, running, leader, bell and D. traps 
are of cast-iron. Mason’s trap is of brick. 
The others are of lead. 

(d) All fixture traps must be protected 
from siphonage and back pressure by spe¬ 
cial lines of vent pipes. 

Branch vent pipes should be connected 
not less than six inches nor more than two 
feet from CROWN of trap, or side of lead 
bend, and connected with main vent pipe. 
Branch vent pipes should be above the top 
of all connecting fixtures, so as to prevent 
the use of same as waste or soil pipes. 

(e) Waste pipes are ventilated by being 
extended at least one foot above coping of 
parapet wall of MAIN roof. The waste 
pipe must be increased in size to four inches 
at a point at least one foot below surface 
of roof and be provided with a wire basket 
securely fastened to the opening. NO 
COWLS OR RETURN BENDS AL¬ 
LOWED. 

When roofs are to be used for drying 
purposes or roof gardens, ALL pipes shall 
be extended to a height of 7 feet above roof. 
Waste pipes shall be located well away 


from all shafts, chimneys or other ventilat¬ 
ing openings so as to avoid entering the 
rooms by a down-draft, and when issuing 
from air extension or elsewhere which 
would otherwise open within TWENTY 
feet of the window of any building must be 
extended well above the top of any such 
window. 

The waste pipe is ventilated by means 
of the FRESH AIR INLET, which venti¬ 
lates all the plumbing pipes of the building; 
it is connected to the HOUSE DRAIN, just 
inside of the HOUSE TRAP, and is ex¬ 
tended to the outer air in the street, ter¬ 
minating with a return bend, with open end 
one foot above the grade, well away from 
all window openings. An automatic device 
at the opening of the FRESH AIR INLET, 
approved by the SUPERINTENDENT^ 
BUILDINGS, may be used when set in a. 
manner satisfactory to him. 

No curb box or similar device with grat¬ 
ing placed in the sidewalk will be permit¬ 
ted for FRESH AIR INLETS. (Same ren¬ 
der the inlet useless, as they easily become 
obstructed with dirt, snow or ice.) 

By means of a FRESH AIR INLET the 
main plumbing pipes of a building are con¬ 
stantly ventilated of foul odors and drain 
air, preventing trap siphonage. 

(f) Trap siphonage is caused by the dis¬ 
charge of one or more fixtures on an upper 
floor emptying its contents into the main 
waste or soil pipe, filling same and forcing 
the air in the pipe before it in its descent, 
thereby causing a vacuum to form in be¬ 
hind the line of fluid discharged, which in 
its turn causes a suction strong enough to 
“pull the water seal” out of the fixture trap 
connected with same line on a low6r floor 
if the waste pipe and trap are of smaller 
diameter than the waste or soil pipe dis¬ 
charging the fluid. 

If each fixture is properly trapped and 
vented above the roof, the suction is not 
strong enough to pull both the air in the 
vent pipe and the water seal in the trap. 

The air in the vent pipe counterbalances 
the suction and vacuum in the pipe caused 
by the discharging fluid. 

Fixture traps also “lose their seals” by 
means of capillary attraction, i. e., a piece 
of 'string or lint or other fibrous material 
may become caught in the bend of the trap, 
one end of which will hang over into the 
branch waste pipe and suck the water from 
the trap, causing the loss of the “water 
seal.” 

“Trap seals” are also lost by the EVAP¬ 
ORATION of the water therein. This is 
the case during the summer months when 
houses are closed up and the fixtures not 
frequently flushed. 

Rain leaders for this reason are required 
to be provided with traps having an EX¬ 
TRA DEEP water seal, so that ALL the 
water will not evaporate during a period 
of long continued drought. 


Ques. 2:—Give the location and use of 
each of the following in a building, making 
rough sketches if you think it necessary: 

(a) A Leader; (b) Soil pipe; (c) Waste 
pipe; (d) Vent pipe; (e) Drain pipe; (f) 
House drain; (g) Overflow, (h) What is a 
wiped joint? 

ANS.:—(a) Every building must be pro¬ 
vided with proper metallic gutters and lead¬ 
ers for conducting storm water from all 
roofs in such a manner as shall protect the 
walls and foundation from injury, and shall 
be connected with the house drain by means 
of a cast-iron pipe extending vertically 5 
feet above the grade level, same to be pro¬ 
vided with a cast-iron running trap at least 

3 inches in diameter, with an extra deep 
seal, and screw ferrule for handhole clean¬ 
outs. Leader pipes, if placed inside a build¬ 
ing, must be of cast iron, wrought iron or 
steel, with roof connections, gas and water¬ 
tight. Outside leaders may be of sheet 
metal. 

(b) The soil pipe is the main vertical 
pipe in the plumbing system of a building. 
It must be of iron, steel or brass, at least 

4 inches in diameter. It is used to receive 
the discharge of water-closets with or with¬ 
out other fixtures, and is connected to the 
house drain by a long quarter bend. Soil 
pipes must extend in full caliber 1 foot 
above roof coping, and without any cap, 
cowl or return bend, and well away from 
all shafts, windows, chimneys or other ven¬ 
tilating openings. The pipe opening at top 
must be provided with a wire basket se¬ 
curely fastened thereto. 

(c) Waste pipes are of two kinds. The 
branch waste pipe is a short line of lead, 
iron or steel pipe connecting all fixtures, 
except water-closet, with the main vertical 
waste or soil pipe. Branch waste pipes 
must have a fall of at least 14 inch per 
foot. Branch waste pipes are lp 2 and 2 
inches in diameter. Main waste pipes must 
be of iron, steel or brass at least 2 inches 
in diameter, and receive the discharge of 
all fixtures except water-closets. They are 
connected with the house drain and ex¬ 
tended above the roof (diameter increased 
to 4 inches one foot below roof surface), 
the same as soil pipes. 

(d) Vent pipes are also of two kinds, 
the same as waste pipes; i. e., branch vents 
and main, vents. Branch vent pipes must 
be connected to the crown of the fixture 
trap and to the main vent pipe above the 
top of connecting fixtures to prevent use. 
of same as soil or waste pipes. 

Vent connected for water-closets or slop 
sinks must be made from the branch soil 
or waste pipe JUST BELOW THE TRAP 
of the fixtures, and so connected as to pre¬ 
vent obstruction. 

Main vent pipes, when there are fixtures 
on not more than six floors, may be con¬ 
nected to the adjoining waste or soil line 
well above the highest fixture, and con¬ 
nected at the bottom of the main waste pipe 
or soil pipe. If extended above the roof 
coping, size must be increased to 4 inches, 
as required for waste pipes. 


Vent pipes are used to prevent trap si- 
phonage and back pressure, and to venti¬ 
late the drainage system. 

(e) Drain pipes are required for the sur¬ 
face drainage of all yards, areas and courts 
exceeding 15 square feet in area, and must 
be drained into the sewer. A shaft open 
at the top, not more than 25 square feet in 
area and which cannot be connected back 
of a leader, yard, court or area drain trap, 
may be drained into a publicly placed, wa¬ 
ter supplied, properly trapped and vented 
slop sink. 

Cellar drain may be connected in back 
of and controlled by a leader, yard, court 
or area drain trap, which need not be vented. 

Floor drains are only permitted when 
their use is absolutely necessary, and ar¬ 
ranged so that a perriianent water seal is 
maintained in the traps. 

Drains should be controlled by one trap, 
the leader trap, if possible. 

(f) The house drain is the principal drain 
pipe of a building. It receives the discharge 
of all the plumbing fixtures; also the rain 
leader, yard, area, court and open shaft 
drain pipes. It is located in the cellar or 
lowest story, and with its branches must 
be of extra heavy cast iron pine, at least 
4 inches in diameter, and with a fall of at 
least i nc h per foot, and run in as direct 
a line as possible. It is connected with the 
HOUSE SEWER, at a point 2 feet outside 
the outer front vault or area wall of the 
building. 

An iron running trap must be placed in 
the house drain near the front wall of the 
building, on the sewer side of all connec¬ 
tions. Same must be easily accessible, and 
the house trap must have two handhole 
cleanouts, with brass screw cap ferrules. 

A fresh air inlet pipe of the same diam¬ 
eter mus" be connected with the house drain, 
just INSIDE the house trap, and extended 
to the outer air. 

(g) An overflow pipe is connected with 
the overflow outlet of sinks, bathtubs, wash 
basins or urinals, and the fixture side of 
the waste pipe or trap thereof. If con¬ 
nected to the branch vent pipe or sewer 
side of the fixture trap it would serve as a 
“by-pass” for deleterious drain air to escape 
and enter the premises. 

Water supply house tanks on roof must 
be provided with overflow pipes which can 
discharge on the roof. If tank is located 
on top floor of building, the overflow pipe 
MUST BE TRAPPED, and discharge over 
a properly trapped and sewer-connected, 
water-supplied open sink, NOT IN THE 
SAME ROOM, but generally in the base¬ 
ment or cellar near the janitor’s apartment, 
or in the engine room, where it acts as a 
“tell-tale” to shut off the water supply to 
tank. In no case shall the overflow pipe 
be connected with any part of the plumbing 
system. 

(h) A wiped joint is used by plumbers 
when connecting two ends of lead pipe or 
one end of a lead pipe and a cast iron pipe, 
by means of a brass ferrule. The hot lead 
is poured over the joint from the ladle and 

29 


wiped all around the joint by the aid of a 
wiping cloth, forming an egg-shaped mass, 
leaving the joint gas and water-tight. 

Ques. 3:—(a) What types of water-clos¬ 
ets are you familiar with? 

(b) What types are allowed in tenements? 

(c) What excluded types are allowed in 
yards? 

(d) Distinguish the long hopper from the 
short hopper type of water-closet. 

(e) Where is the long hopper permitted 
and where the short hopper permitted? 
Why? 

ANS.:—(a) Latrines, school sinks, long 
hopper, short hopper, siphon jet, siphon 
washdown, washout, pan, plunger, offset- 
washout. 

(b) Siphon jet, washout, short hopper 
with earthenware flushing rim bowl, and 
long hopper allowed in basement or cellar 
under SPECIAL PERMIT. 

(c) Long hoppers. 

(d) The long hopper water-closet is used 
where there is exposure to frost; generally 
in yards and unheated extensions; the trap 
is placed beneath the floor. The pipe be¬ 
tween the hopper and trap is 2 feet or over 
deep, therebv presenting a large area of 
surface subject to fouling. The short hop¬ 
per has an iron “S” trap above the floor, 
to which is firmly attached an earthenware 
flushing rim bowl that is easily kept clean. 

(e) The long hopper is permitted in base¬ 
ments or cellars under a SPECIAL PER¬ 
MIT IN WRITING, when existing condi¬ 
tions warrant same. Must have an earthen¬ 
ware hopper, with a flushing rim. The trap 
and flushing apparatus must be protected 
from frost. The water-closet apartment 
must be properly ventilated to the external 
air and be provided with adequate natural 
and artificial means for lighting same. Long 
hoppers are also permitted in yards and 
extensions to basements or first floor, when 
provided with an adequate supply of water 
to thoroughly flush the fixture and same is 
properly protected from freezing. 

Short hoppers are permitted in tenements, 
but must have an earthenware flushing rim 
bowl, the space around and under same left 
entirely open, painted white and kept clean. 
No drip trays or lead safes permitted. 

Ques. 4:—(a) What window space is re¬ 
quired in a bedroom 14 feet by 8 feet by 8 
feet, flat ceiling, new tenement? 

(b) How must living rooms be lighted? 

(c) What is the rule as to lighting al¬ 
coves? 

(d) Also the rule as to alcove rooms? 

(e) What rooms may be lighted by vent 
shafts? 

ANS.:—(a) The height of this bedroom 
(8 feet) is a violation of the Tenement 
House Law, which says that “no room shall 
be less than 9 feet high, from finished floor 
to. ceiling.” The window area of each room 


(except water-closets and bathrooms) shall 
be at least one-tenth of the superficial area 
of the room. No such window shall be less 
than 12 square feet in area between the 
stop beads. Superficial area means the area 
of the surface, or floor of the room, which 
is 14 times 8 feet, or 112 square feet. One- 
tenth of 112 square feet is 11 1-5 square 
feet; but the law specifies: “No such win¬ 
dow shall be less than 12 square feet be¬ 
tween stop beads.” 

(b) No room in a tenement house erect- 
ed for living purposes unless it shall have 
a window opening directly upon a street 
or upon a yard not less than 4 feet deep, 
or above the roof of an adjoining building, 
or upon a court or shaft of not less than 
20 square feet in area open to the sky with¬ 
out roof or skylight, unless such room is 
located on the top floor and is adequately 
lighted and ventilated by a skylight open¬ 
ing directly to the outer air. 

Every room which does not comply with 
the above provisions shall be provided with 
a window into an adjoining room in the 
same apartment, which latter room opens 
directly on the street or yard not less than 
4 feet deep. Such window shall have an 
area of at least 15 square feet. 

In basement or cellar apartments the to¬ 
tal window area must be at least one-eighth 
the superficial area of the room, but in no 
case to be less than 12 square feet. 

In tenement houses erected since April 
10, 1901, the total window area in each room 
shall be at least one-tenth the superficial 
area of the room, and the top of at least 
one window shall be not less than 7 feet 
6 inches above the floor, the upper half to 
be made so as to open the full width. No 
such window shall be less than 12 feet in 
area between the stop beads, and shall be 
so located as to properly light all portions 
of such rooms. 

(c) An alcove in any room in a tenement 
house erected since April 10. 1901, shall be 
separately lighted and ventilated by means 
of a window opening upon a street or court 
or upon a yard at least 4 feet deep. Such 
window to be at least 12 square feet in area 
between stop beads. 

(d) Alcove rooms shall be lighted and 
ventilated as stated in answer (c). Such 
rooms shall be not less than 70 square feet 
in area, and at least 9 feet in height between 
finished floor and ceiling. No part of any 
such alcove room shall be enclosed by a 
curtain, portiere, fixed or movable parti¬ 
tion, sliding door, or other similar contri¬ 
vance or device, unless such part of the 
alcove room so enclosed or subdivided shall 
be separately lighted and ventilated as re¬ 
quired for other rooms; that is, by a win¬ 
dow at least' 12 square feet in area between 
stop beads, and opening upon a street, court 
or yard of proper dimensions. 

(e) Water-closet compartments and bath¬ 
rooms. 


Ques. 5:—(a) Where must fire-escapes 
in a tenement be located? (b) How strong 
should they be? (c) How far should rungs 
on ladders be apart? (d) How far can fire- 
escapes project from the building? (e) Un¬ 
der what circumstances can they be placed 
in a court? (f) What should be the width 
of fire-escape balconies? 

ANS.:—(a) All fire-escapes shall open 
directly from at least one room or private 
hall in each apartment at each story above 
the ground floor. Such fire-escapes may be 
located on the front or rear wall of the 
building or in an outer or inner court. 

Fireproof tenement houses, erected from 
plans filed after April 18, 1912, and in which 
there is a power passenger elevator, shall 
have tower fire-escapes or stairways, fire¬ 
proof and smokeproof throughout. 

Non-fireproof tenements less than four 
stories in height and which do not contain 
accommodations for more than four fam¬ 
ilies in all, may be equipped with approved 
iron, steel or wire-cable fire-escapes capable 
of reaching from the top floor to the ground 
and accessible to one window in each apait- 
ment opening on the street or yard, except 
a water-closet, bathroom or public hall win¬ 
dow. 

Wire-cable fire-escapes must be provided 
for each separate apartment above the 
ground floor, and must be securely fastened 
to the floor and base of the window open¬ 
ing. Such fire-escapes must not be located 
directly over each other. 

(b) Wire-cable, steel or iron fire-escapes 
must be capable of sustaining two thousand 
pounds. All fire-escapes must be construct¬ 
ed and erected to safely sustain in all their 
parts a safe load. The platforms or bal¬ 
conies shall safely sustain in all their parts 
a sate luaa at a ratio of tour to one of eighty 
pounds per square foot of surface. 

(c) Rungs on vertical ladder or wire- 
cable fire-escapes, also gooseneck and drop 
ladders, must not be more than 12 inches 
apart. 

(d) Not more than 4 feet. 

(e) Fire-escapes may be placed in an 
outer court of not less than 5 feet in width* 
provided that they are located not more 
than 30 feet distant from the outer end of 
said court. In an inner court whose least 
horizontal dimension is not less than 15 
feet from wall to wall. Proper and safe 
means . of egress must be provided from 
such inner court by means of a fireproof 
passageway at least 3 feet wide and 7 feet 
high, leading to the street in a straight line 
and accessible at all times. 

Fire-escapes are allowed in inner courts 
only when there is an apartment having .no 
room fronting on a street or yard, but hav¬ 
ing a room opening on an inner court. 

(f) Fire-escape balconies must be not less 
than 3 feet, nor more than 4 feet, in width. 

Ques. 0:—Point out the defects in the 
plans and specifications for a proposed five- 
story tenement house, with five families to 
each floor, having the following ten provi¬ 
sions: 


Answer each subdivision either as “Right” 
or “Wrong,” “Should be.” 

(1) Wooden cellar beams treated with 
so-called fireproofing substances. 

(2) Cherry wood handrails on stairways. 

(3) Oak treads on cellar stairs 2 inches 
thick. 

(4) Risers of hardwood. 

(5) Strings of metal. 

(6) Treads on stairs above first story of 
hardwood. 

(7) Banisters of stone. 

(8) Floors of stair-halls of hardwood. 

(9) Floors of building of hardwood. 

(10) Hall windows of plate-glass. 

ANS.:— (1) Wrong. Should be iron or 
steel beams and fireproof flooring; and all 
exposed portion of such beams 2nd the 
bottom flanges should be entirely encased 
in hard-burnt clay or porous terra cotta, 
or with metal lath properly secured and 
plastered on the under side. 

(2) Right. 

(3) Wrong. No non-fireproof tenement 
house to be erected exceeding four stories 
and cellar in height, or arranged to be oc¬ 
cupied by more than two families on any 
floor, should have inside cellar stairs, but 
such stairs should in every case be located 
outside the building; and if enclosed should 
be constructed entirely fireproof. 

(4) Wrong. Should be of metal or stone. 

(5) Right. 

(6) Right, if at least 2 inches thick. 

(7) Right. 

(8) Wrong. Should be of iron or steel 
beams and fireproof filling, with no wooden 
sleepers or flooring. 

(9) Right, if within the apartments above 
the first story. 

(10) Wrong. Should be of good quality 
wired-glass, set in steel, iron or kalsomined 
sashes and frames. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 
PROMOTION TO CHIEF INSPECTOR, 

New Building Bureau, Tenement House 
Department. 

Date: July 14, 1909. 
TECHNICAL. 

1. What are the requirements regarding 
the floors and ceilings of cellars of all tene¬ 
ments? 

2. State fully the general requirements 
regarding fire-escapes in new buildings over 
four stories in height. 

3. Give the general requirements con¬ 
cerning vent shafts in new buildings. 

4. State fully the requirements as to hori¬ 
zontal dimensions of inner courts which 
are inclosed on all four sides in new build¬ 
ings. 

5. When the department is satisfied that 
no material improvement would be had by 
providing new windows, as specified by the 
Tenement House Act, in apartments which 
extend from the street to the yard, under 
what conditions may such rooms be occu¬ 
pied for living purposes? 

31 



6. Describe fully how you would decide 
whether a three-story private dwelling 
house which has been altered for the use 
of several families, should be classed—as 
a tenement house, a lodging house or a 
hotel? 

7. What is the necessary thickness of 
brick walls prescribed by the Building Code 
for apartment houses of various dimensions 
less than 60 feet in height? 

8. What is the use of vent pipes in 
plumbing? What is the usual size of vent 
pipes, and how are they usually placed? 
How would you decide upon the number 
necessary for a building? Give brief rea¬ 
sons for your answers when necessary. 

9 and 10. Assuming such facts as you 
wish, write a report of not less than 200 
words based on the following: 

A protest has been made by a taxpayers’ 
association against a vacation notice issue 
against a tenement house. In your report 
you will show the necessity of the vacation 
notice not merely on account of technical 
violations of the Tenement House Act, but 
for the safeguarding of the public health. 

N. B.—In rating this report consideration 
will be given not only to the knowledge 
of the Tenement House Act shown by the 
candidate, but to the clearness and concise¬ 
ness of the report itself. Consideration will 
be given to the reasons advanced showing 
the necessity of absolutely vacating the 
premises in question. 

11. What are the requisites in New York 
City of (a) First-class building lime? (b) 
The best quality of building sand? (c) 
Concrete for foundations of buildings? 

12. Describe briefly, giving all important 
particulars, two methods of protecting iron 
columns from fire. 

13. What is meant by each of the follow¬ 
ing: 

(a) Curtain wall; (b) Rowlock arch; (c) 
Inverted arch; (d) Trimmer arch? 

14. What do you understand by each of 
the following terms: 

(a) Parallel coping; (b) Stirrup irons; 
(c) Truss; (d) Scarf joints; (e) Tensile 
strength? 

15. Explain briefly, giving all important 
particulars, the construction and operation 
of the ordinary pneumatic caisson used in 
the construction of foundations of buildings. 

16. Give three general rules which should 
be observed in the construction of joints in 
timber work. 

17. (a) Describe the preparation of ce¬ 
ment mortar, (b) What are the necessary 
tests in New York City for cements classed 
as (1) Portland cement; (2) Rosendale ce¬ 
ment? 

MATHEMATICS. 

(Give all the figuring in the following.) 

18. Compute the area of a triangular lot 
whose sides are 40, 60 and 80 feet. 

19. The parallel sides of an air shaft are 
5 and 7 feet. The distance between them 


the number of cubic feet of air space in the 
shaft. 

20. A circular plaza has a radius of 150 
feet. In laying out the plaza it cut a rec¬ 
tangular plot with a chord of 100 feet, the 
entire frontage of the lot. The plot was 
1Q0 by 120 feet. Compute the area of the 
remaining part of the plot. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 
LAY SANITARY INSPECTOR. 

SPECIAL PAPER. 

Date: October 25, 1907. 

1. What kind of tenements must be fire¬ 
proof? What are the most common fire¬ 
proof materials? Describe how these ma¬ 
terials are to be used in (a) Floor construc¬ 
tion; (b) Partitions; (c) The casing of 
posts, girders, trusses, etc. 

2. (a) Where and how must concrete 
be used in tenement house construction? 

(b) What constitutes good concrete, and 
describe one way of making it? 

3. (a) What are the provisions of the 
Tenement House Act in reference to win¬ 
dows in living rooms of tenements for pur¬ 
poses of light and ventilation? (b) What is 
wired glass, and for w T hat is it chiefly used? 

(c) Name two parts of a tenement house 
which must be painted in light colors, giv¬ 
ing the reasons. 

4. (a) What are the principal objections 
to earthenware house drains? (b) Under 
what conditions may a house drain be con¬ 
nected to two buildings? (c) In what way 
must openings in pipes be closed after a 
fixture has been removed? (d) In setting 
cast iron drain pipes, it is discovered that 
several have blow holes. In what manner , 
and under what restrictions may such holes 
be plugged? 

5. (a) How must joints ;in iron, drain 
pipes be connected? (b) In what manner - 
must connection of lead pipe's be made with 
iron pipes? (c) How must connections of 
lead waste pipes be made? (d) In a bath-'* 
room it is proposed to place a trap four- 
feet away from a water-closet UiatFit may: 
be connected with the waste pipe from a’ 
bath tub. State whether this is permissible, 
giving your reasons. 

; 6. What is the remedy in each of the 
following cases: (a) A tenant in an apart¬ 
ment house : is annoyed by odors arising' 
from garbage and stagnant water in an ad¬ 
joining vacant lot. (b) The noise of ma- : 
chinery in a printing establishment disturbs 
the rest of tenants in adjacent houses. 

7. (a) How should you test a trap with 

a view to finding out whether its seal is 
lost or not? (b) How should the scent or 
peppermint test for plumbing be applied? 


8. (a) Give briefly the provisions of the 

Tenement House Law in regard of water-? 
closets, (b) Describe a pan water-closet, 
a hoppef closet-, a washdown water-closet 
8 feet. The height is 60 feet. Compute- and a.flush tank. 

388 




9. (a) What are the requirements of the 
Tenement House Act in reference to rail¬ 
ings of fire-escapes? (b) What is meant 
by each of the following: Filling in bars 
or standards, angle iron, cast iron? 

10. (a) If an order has been issued by 
the Tenement House Department that a 
school sink be removed, state fully what is 
to be done before the violation is dismissed, 
(b) Compare from a sanitary standpoint a 
long hopper and a short hopper closet, 
drawing a rough sketch of each. 

ARITHMETIC. 

1. A city lot in the shape of a right- 
angle triangle has an avenue frontage of 25 
feet and a side street frontage of 110 feet. 
What percentage of the lot is occupied by 
a building 15 by 35 feet in size? (The third 
side of lot is 112 feet long.) 

2. What will be the cost of building a 
brick wall 20 feet long, 10 feet high and 2 
feet thick with brick at $8 per 1,000? As¬ 
sume brick as 8x4x2 inches and disregard 
allowance for mortar. 

3. What will be the cost of carpeting a 
room 15 by 20 feet in size with carpet 27 
inches wide, at $2 a yard laid? 

4. In an apartment of three rooms, each 
7 by 10 by 10.5 feet, there live two adults 
and three children; if the law requires 400 
cubic feet for each adult and 200 cubic feet 
for each child, how many additional adults 
could lawfully occupy the apartment in 
question? 

REPORT. 

A complaint has been made to the Tene¬ 
ment House Department that the water sup¬ 
ply in a certain tenement house is inade¬ 
quate. You are sent to investigate the mat¬ 
ter. Assume such facts as you please, 
make a detailed report of the result of your 
investigation, give all the essential partic¬ 
ulars and make such recommendations as 
you deem necessary. 

Sign this report John Doe. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 
LAY SANITARY INSPECTOR. 

Date: October 26, 1907. 
SPECIAL. 

1. (a) In what manner must the stair- 
halls of tenements four stories in height be 
enclosed? (b) What may be the construc¬ 
tion if the tenement does not exceed three 
stories? (c) What is the composition of 
mortar for building purposes? (d) What 
is metal lath? 

2. What are the essential points of dif¬ 
ferences between brick and terra cotta as 
regards (a) composition; (b) method of 
manufacture; (c) uses; (d) durability? 

3. (a) How would you determine when 
it is necessary to use damp-proofing in 


tenement construction? (b) Mention the 
materials most commonly used in damp¬ 
proofing and describe the way in which they 
are used. 

4 and 5. Explain briefly but clearly the 
functions of each of the following: (a) 
House drains; ,(b) running traps; (c) soil 
pipe; (d) vent pipe; (e) main waste pipe; 
(f) rain leaders; (g) fresh air inlet; (h) 
house seal. 

6. Name five different conditions which 
would render a house uninhabitable during 
alterations and necessitate the issuance of 
a vacation notice by the Tenement House 
Department. 

7. (a) In what manner must the waste 
pipes of tenements be ventilated? (b) How 
may an attempt be made by a plumbing 
contractor to avoid complying fully witii 
this regulation? (c) What test may be 
made to see that the law is complied with 
in this respect and how is it applied? 

8. (a) What are the most common caus¬ 
es of escaping sewer gas in tenements? How 
can these be remedied? (b) What is si- 
phonage? How is it caused and prevented? 

9. (a) Name five kinds of wood most 
commonly used in building construction, 
(b) What is the cause of dry rot in wood¬ 
work and in what part of a tenement does 
this most frequently occur? (c) What rec¬ 
ommendations would you make as Tene¬ 
ment House Inspector under these condi¬ 
tions? 

10. (a) Draw a rough sketch of a prop¬ 
erly constructed water-closet to be erected 
in the yard of a tenement house, (b) Name 
three materials which may be used for wa¬ 
terproofing the floor of this closet, giving 
a brief description of each. 

ARITHMETIC. 

1. What will be the weight of the water 
in a tank 7 by 8 by 9 feet in size, if there 
are 231 cubic inches in a gallon and a gal¬ 
lon weighs 8 pounds, the tank being three- 
quarters full? 

2. A rectangular building has a frontage 
on an avenue of 25 feet, a frontage on a 
side street of 150 feet, and a frontage on a 
rear alley of 25 feet; the avenue frontage 
of the lot on which the building stands is 
29 feet and the rear frontage 27 feet. What 
percentage of the lot is occupied by the 
building? 

3. What will be the cost of papering 
the four walls of a room 10 feet wide, 12 
feet long and 8 feet high, with paper at 25 
cents apiece hung, each piece containing 8 
yards? Assume paper three-quarters of a 
yard wide and suppose one-quarter of wall 
area to be taken up by doors and windows. 

4. How many yards of stair carpet 
three-quarters of a yard wide will be re¬ 
quired to carpet a staircase 12 feet in height, 
each step being 27 inches wide, 9 inches 
deep and 6 inches high? 

REPORT. 

You are sent to investigate the condition 
of the water-closets in a certain tenement 


33 



house, ( the ground floor of which is occu¬ 
pied as* a saloon. Assuming such facts as 
you please, make a detailed report cover¬ 
ing such defects as you may have discov¬ 
ered, and suggest such improvements as 
the case seems to demand. 

Sign this report John Doe. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 
INSPECTOR OF TENEMENTS. 

TECHNICAL. 

1. State clearly, concisely and precisely 
the conditions of living in New York City 
which have made necessary the establish¬ 
ment of a separate Tenement House De¬ 
partment. 

2. Suppose a fashionable apartment 
house, live stories high with two apart¬ 
ments on each floor. There are no kitchens 
in any apartments, but there is a restaurant 
on the ground floor. Some of the tenants 
introduce gas ranges in their apartments. 
Does this action make a tenement house of 
the place or not? Give reasons with your 
answer. 

3. Explain the meaning of the words 
“superficial area” in the provision that “the 
total window area in each room, except 
water-closet compartments and bathroom, 
shall be at least one-tenth of the superfi¬ 
cial area of the room.” 

4. State for what purposes (a) a tene¬ 
ment house or a part thereof may not be 
used for business or storage; (b) for what 
it may be used under certain restrictions; 
(c) what these restrictions are; (d) what 
is “wire-glass” and “fireproof material” as 
applied to walls and ceilings. 

5. Define “cellar” and “basement” and 
state as precisely as you can all the pur¬ 
poses to which the law allows them to be 
put and under what conditions. 

6. State the laws governing fire-escapes; 
how they must be constructed; where 
placed; whose duty it is, apart from the 
tenants, to see that they are kept clear and 
in good condition. 

7. What is meant by a “trap” in plumb¬ 
ing? Why is a trap necessary in a water- 
closet? What is the provision of the Sani¬ 
tary Code as to trapping sinks, etc.? What 
is meant by “siphoning”; how. is it caused, 
and how best prevented? 

8. What are the duties of an owner or 
tenant with reference to sidewalk upon the 
premises of which he is owner or tenant? 
State one instance in which the law govern¬ 
ing this matter has been conspicuously dis¬ 
regarded in the past, few weeks. Upon 
what city department does the responsibil¬ 
ity of this matter rest? 

9. State the reasons why a water-closet 
flush should not come directly from the 
supply pipe. 

10. Taking in order, tubs, drains, ventila¬ 
tion pipes; state the best materials for each 
arid indicate the objections to other mate¬ 
rials sometimes used. 


11. State as concisely as possible the 
conditions in existing tenement houses (a) 
which are allowed to continue; (b) which 
must be changed in case of alteration; (c) 
which must be changed if not altered; (d) 
which will not be allowed in houses to be 
hereafter erected; and give briefly your 
opinion for the reason of the law in each 
case. 

12. You are sent to inspect (a) a tene¬ 
ment house of ordinary character, five years 
old; (b) a tenement house in process of 
construction; (c) a tenement house of the 
so-called “model” character, one year old; 
state precisely to what points you would 
direct your investigations, and assuming 
any facts you please, write a report of your 
inspection, addressed to the Commissioner. 
N. B.—Sign this report with your exam¬ 
ination number and not your name. 

13. Suppose that in case (a) of question 
12 you discovered some conditions or vio¬ 
lation of the law not of a very serious char¬ 
acter, but created by the tenants them¬ 
selves. What would be your course toward 
the tenants? Would your course be in any 
way determined by any of the following: 
Nationality; length of residence in the city; 
means of subsistence; comparative igno¬ 
rance? If so, how and why? 

14 and 15. (Questions on a plan, giving 
dimensions of the rooms and asking wheth¬ 
er, under stated conditions, any law was 
being violated regarding air space, etc.) 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 
INSPECTOR OF TENEMENTS. 

SPECIAL PAPER. 

1. Enumerate the evils which are likely 
to arise from overcrowding in tenement 
houses. 

2. Suppose a fashionable apartment 
house, five stories high, with two apartments 
on each floor. There are no kitchens in 
any apartment, but the occupants take their 
meals in a restaurant on tne ground floor. 
In the summer the restaurant is closed for 
several months for repairs. Some of the 
tenants then prepare their own breakfasts 
in their apartments. Does this action make 
a tenement house of the place or not? Give 
reasons with your answer. 

3. Explain the meaning of the following 

terms: “Gooseneck ladder,” “winder,” 

“string,” “in stairways,” “Louvre.” 

4. State the principal changes made in 
the Tenement House Law by the amend¬ 
ment act of 1902. 

5. Under what conditions may a cellar 
be occupied for living purposes? 

6. What is the provision of the law as 
to stairways in non-fireprpof tenements to 
be hereafter erected? 

7. If in making an inspection you should 
find tenants beating a' carpet on a root or 
hanging it out of windows, what would you. 
do? 

34 




8. What are the requirements as to light¬ 
ing public halls in tenements? (This ques¬ 
tion refers both to windows and artiticial 
lighting.) 

9. In what way is the height of a tene¬ 
ment house determined by the width of 
the street on which it is built? 

10. What restrictions are there as to 
building rear tenements? 

11. Why is it forbidden to connect the 
waste pipe from a bath tub with a water- 
closet trap? 

12. Wby is it required that plumbing 
work under water-closets should be uncov¬ 
ered? 

13. You are sent to inspect three tene¬ 
ment houses of different character. In some 
instances you find violations of the law as 
to construction, and in some violations of 
the Sanitary Code. Assuming such facts 
as you please, write a report addressed to 
the Commissioner.- 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 
INSPECTOR OF TENEMENTS. 

TECHNICAL. 

1. Name the bureaus of the Tenement 
House Department, and State in a general 
way the difference in duties of Inspectors 
attached to the different bureaus. 

2. (a) If the owner of a private dwelling 
desired to add a story to or otherwise en¬ 
large for the use of his family, where would 
plans have to be filed and permission ob¬ 
tained to make the alterations? (b) In case 
the owner desired to alter the building to 
make it accommodate four families, what 
different steps must be taken? 

3. State the difference between yard and 
court as used in the Building Code; also 
between cellar and basement; and under 
•what conditions may a cellar be occupied 
for living purposes? 

4. What is the rule as to the height of 
a new tenement house under the present 
law and how are height, length and breadth 
of such a building measured? 

5. State fully the requirements as to win¬ 
dows in rooms under the Tenement House 
Law. What window area would be neces¬ 
sary in a room 13 feet long, 15 feet wide 
and 9 feet high? 

6. What is an “intake” and what is its 
object? What area must the intake have 
for a court 13 feet by 26 feet? 

7. What are the special advantages of 
so-called “open plumbing”? Would it be 
well, in your opinion, to extend the re¬ 
quirements of the law to gas piping? Give 
reasons for your answer. 

8. To what extent has the requirement 
as to inner courts been changed by recent 
amendments of the Tenement House Law? 
Give minimum measurements of such courts 
under the original law, and as changed by 
amendment. 

9. What advantage is gained by requir¬ 
ing careful registration ot agents and own¬ 


ers of tenement houses? How may an 
owner or agent be considered to have per¬ 
mitted the use of tenement property for 
illegal purposes in spite of his denial of 
the same? 

10. State clearly the distinctions made 
in applying the Tenement House Law to 
buildings already erected and those here¬ 
after to be erected. 

11. Under what conditions, if at all, may 
a tenement house be erected on the rear 
of a lot on the front of which lot there is 
already a tenement house standing? 

12. Define a fireproof building, according 
to the requirements of the present Build¬ 
ing Code of New York City. What is 
meant by skeleton construction, and when 
must a tenement house be made fireproof? 

13. Make a full report of your inspec¬ 
tion of three tenement houses, assuming 
such conditions as must be assumed in each 
case. 

14 and 15. It is proposed to erect a tene¬ 
ment house 57 feet high with the dimen¬ 
sions shown on the plan below. State 
whether this is lawful or not. Give rea¬ 
sons clearly for opinions. The lot is an 
interior lot. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 

SANITARY INSPECTOR AND INSPEC¬ 
TOR OF LIGHT AND VENTILA¬ 
TION. 

Tenement House Department. 

TECHNICAL. 

1. What evils, sanitary or moral, have 
existed in the past, not reached by previous 
city departments, which the Department of 
Tenement Houses is expected to correct? 
Answer this question completely, but con¬ 
cisely. 

2. Give your opinion as to what makes 
the difference (a) in general language, (b) 
in legal terms, between an apartment house 
and a tenement house. 

3. Explain, so that an ordinary person 
can understand, the meaning of the follow¬ 
ing requirements of the Tenement House 
Law concerning fire-escapes: “The plat¬ 
forms or balconies shall be constructed and 
erected to safely sustain in all their parts 
a safe load at a ratio of four to one of not 
less than eighty pounds per square foot of 
surface.” 

4. What are the restrictions with refer¬ 
ence to bakeries in tenement houses? What 
do you understand to be the meaning of 
“fireproof materials” in connection with 
such restrictions? What are the “other 
dangerous businesses” as to which there 
are restrictions, and what is the meaning 
of the technical term used in the law with 
reference to them? 

5. State clearly the difference between 
a court and a yard, and also the difference 
between a cellar and a basement. 

35 




6. The law provides that stairways on 
a fire-escape shall be placed “at an angle of 
not more than sixty degrees.” From what 
line is this angle determined? Define the 
following words used in the same connec¬ 
tion: “Gooseneck ladder,” “battens,” “clear 
headway,” “tread,” “string,” “bracket.” 

7. Suppose an apartment with a kitchen 
sink, a water-closet and a wash basin. How 
many traps are necessary? State reasons 
for your answer. What, if any, differences 
in the plumbing arrangements would be 
necessary if the apartment were supplied 
with water from the street main or from a 
roof tank? 

8. State the rules or ordinances concern¬ 
ing the location and condition of fire-es¬ 
capes. If fire-escapes are used as storage 
rooms, or as places for keeping flowers 
or the like, whose duty is it, apart from 
the Tenement House Inspector’s, to see 
that they are kept clear? If you saw such 
a case, what would you do? 

9. What objection is there to enclosing 
plumbing fixtures with woodwork? In the 
city of Paris all gas pipes must be ex¬ 
posed. Do you consider this a reasonable 
rule or not? Give reasons with your an¬ 
swer. 

10. Taking the ordinary tenement house, 
state what materials you consider best for 
the following named purposes: Leaders, 
tubs, floors, partitions where there are win¬ 
dows and the windows themselves, drains, 
and give, in each case, your reasons. 

11. State clearly the distinctions made 
in the application of the Tenement House 
Law between houses already erected and 
those to be hereafter erected. 

12. Draw up what you consider to be a 
proper blank form of report for a Tenement 
House Inspector, and, assuming three dif¬ 
ferent buildings and conditions, make out 
a full report in each case. 

_ 13. How often do you think an inspec¬ 
tion should be made? Would the character 
of the tenants make any difference in this 
matter? Would the particular points to 
which your inspection was directed be de¬ 
termined in any way by consideration of 
nationality, length of residence, means of 
subsistence or similar considerations? If 
so, state clearly how and why. 

TECHNICAL. (Extra Paper.) 

1. There are certain natural forces act¬ 
ing to produce ventilation in buildings; 
what are they? (Note: This does not refer 
to windows, ducts, courts, shafts, etc., 
which are only helps to ventilation.) 

2. _ (a) Define what you mean by ven¬ 
tilation. (b) Can you have proper ven¬ 
tilation without light? (Give your reasons.) 

3. (a) State what must be the cubical 
contents of an apartment for every person 
occupying the same, (b) What do you un¬ 
derstand by an apartment? (c) State the 
minimum dimensions allowed for a bedroom 
in a tenement yet to be built, (d) State 
the same in an existing tenement. 

4. State the difference between 7 square 
feet and 9 feet square, and show how you 
obtain it. 


5. (a) Would the light radiating from a 
point be more intense or less intense as you 
move from it? (b) State the law govern¬ 
ing the relative intensity of a light at two 
differing distances from the light. 

6. (a) Is the purity of the air in a room 
dependent upon the size of the room or the 
amount of fresh air entering it? State 
which, (b) If the latter, about how much 
air should be supplied per minute for each 
individual occupying the room? 

7. (a) State fully and clearly the arrange¬ 
ment and exact dimensions required of a 
window in an existing tenement, (b) State 
the law governing the size and arrange¬ 
ment, and the minimum size allowed in 
tenements yet to be built, (c) State how 
windows must be measured, (d) State what 
the windows of every room in a new tene¬ 
ment must open upon. How does this dif¬ 
fer from that for tenements now existing? 

8. (a) Give an exact definition of the 
outer courts of a tenement and their sizes; 
(b) give an exact definition of the inner 
courts of a tenement and their sizes, (c) 
Why were the narrow courts previously in 
use not considered of sufficient size? 

9. What provisions are made in the new 
law for the ventilation and cleanliness of 
shafts and courts? State fully. 

10. A room is 13 feet 10 inches long and 
9 feet 6 inches wide. It has one window 2 
feet 10 inches wide. How high must the 
window be to conform to the law for new 
tenements? 

11. (a) A street is 70 feet wide. How 
high may a new tenement facing upon it 
be built? (b) State exactly how and where 
this height must be measured. 

12. The law requires for every tenement 
on an interior lot a certain amount of va¬ 
cant space not built upon; is this space the 
same in area as a yard, or of what is it 
constituted? 

13. (a) How many kinds of shafts are 
provided for in new tenements? (b) Which 
of these, if any, may be covered, and under 
what restrictions? 

14. (a) What must be the minimum area 
and least dimension of a vent shaft in a 
new tenement 48 feet high? (b) What must 
be the minimum size and area for a vent 
shaft in an existing tenement, and under 
what conditions may this be reduced? (c) 
What rooms may have windows opening 
into vent shafts? 

(A sketch accompanied this.) 

It is proposed to build in accordance with 
plan above, a tenement house 57 feet high. 
State whether it conforms with the law, and 
if not, give the points in which it is unlaw- 
1 ul,- and why. 

ARITHMETIC. 

1. There is a square lot of land 150 feet 
to the side. On the sides of the lot there 
is a house 28 feet deep in the form of a 
hollow square, leaving a square court in the 
center. What percentage of the area of the 
lot is the area of the court? 

2. Multiply 70.684 by 89.06. 


3. Divide 28.7422542 by 472.89. 

4. A is 45 years old. B is older than A 
by 12 per cent, of A’s age. Find B’s age, 
and express the difference of their ages as 
a percentage of B’s age. 


Municipal Civil Service Commission, N. Y. 

LAY SANITARY INSPECTOR. 

TECHNICAL. 

1. What are the duties of a Lay Sanitary 
Inspector? 

2. How should the waste pipe of a refrig¬ 
erator or water tank be connected? 

3. What points would you observe when 
inspecting a water-closet? 

4. What defects would you look for when 
inspecting the iron pipes in a building? 

5. When may a cellar be used as a dwell¬ 
ing? 

6. What does the Sanitary Code require 
in the case of privy vaults? Manure vaults? 

7. How many cubic feet of air space must 
be allowed to each person in a sleeping 
room? 

8. Define tenement house. 

9. Define lodging house. 

10. Define cellar. 

ARITHMETIC. 

1. Add the decimals .25, .00375, .0125, and 
change the sum to a common fraction. 

2. Multiply 2 feet 8 inches by 376. 

3. In a hospital ward 30 feet 6 inches 
long, 36 feet wide and 18 feet 9 inches high, 
there are 27 patients. How many cubic feet 
of space are there for each patient? 

4. A corner lot 65 feet and 105 feet has 
an apartment house built upon it covering 
87 per cent, of its surface. How many 
square feet left unoccupied for yard and 
areas? 


Civil Service Commission of New Jersey. 

SANITARY INSPECTOR. 

Jersey City. 

Salary, $1,001 per annum at outset. _ Sub¬ 
jects of examination and relative weights: 
Experience and personal qualifications, 2; 
questions on the duties of the position, in¬ 
cluding administration of the health laws 
as related to sanitation, plumbing and drain-, 
age, ventilations, contagious diseases, etc., 
8; total, 10. 

EXPERIENCE. 

This will cover a general examination on 
the past experience and education of the 
applicant. 

PERSONALITY. 

Candidates were submitted to an exam¬ 
ination to test their personal fitness for the 


position and were given oral questions to 
demonstrate their quickness of intelligence, 
breadth of view of the work to be under¬ 
taken and their personal point.of view with 
relation to the more important features of 
the work. 


DUTIES (Paper No. 1). 

1. Under the laws of the State, with 

what duties are Sanitary Inspectors 
charged? # . 

2. What records, in your opinion, should 
Sanitary Inspectors or Health Officers keep? 
Of what use would such records be? 

3. What constitutes a nuisance? What 
legal steps are necessary to procure the 
abatement of a nuisance? 

4. Who is required to report cases of 
contagious diseases to local Boards of 
Health, other than the attending physician? 
What diseases must be so reported? 

5. What agencies spread malaria? How 
may this be prevented in Hudson County? 

6. Name eight diseases which may be 
regarded as preventable, and state the most 
common method by which these diseases 
are transmitted. 

7. What would you consider to be the 
proper quarantine of a house in which there 
are two cases of scarlet fever, the mother 
assists in the nursing and the father works 
in a department store? 

8. Name the various means by which 
tuberculosis may be transmitted and state 
the proper precautions to be taken by a 
tubercular patient who is living with his 
family. 


DUTIES (Paper No. 2). 

9. Name five disinfectants, and state the 
method of preparation and use of each one 
named in the disinfection of a room con¬ 
taining 2,000 cubic feet of air space in which 
a case of scarlet fever had occurred. 

10. What diseases are transmitted bv 
means of milk? At what point in the pro¬ 
duction and distribution of piilk is it likely 
to become infected, and how may this be 
largely overcome? 

11. If an epidemic of typhoid should 
break out in a certain section of the city, 
how would you proceed to determine cause, 
and what general rules would you lay down 
for preventing its further spread? 

12. If an isolated case of typhoid should 
break out in an apartment house, state in 
detail what investigation you would make. 

13. How would you proceed to test the 
plumbing system in an old building? 

14. Who has authority to prevent the 
pollution of potable water in the various 
parts of the State? What inspections must 
be made of . water plants? 

15. Describe the proper procedure for 
filing birth certificates, of d.eath certificates. 


37 




Civil Service Commission of New Jersey. 
SANITARY INSPECTOR. 

Salary, about $1,400 per year. Subjects 
of examination and relative weights: Ex¬ 
perience and education, 6; technical knowl¬ 
edge, including sanitation, applied bacteriol¬ 
ogy, plumbing and drainage, heating and 
ventilation and epidemiology, 30; total, 36. 

EXPERIENCE. 

This will cover a general examination on 
the past experience and education of the 
applicant. 

INSPECTION OF BUILDINGS. 

1. A sanitary inspection of a classroom 
in a school building is to be made. The 
room is 30 feet 6 inches long, 25 feet 9 
inches wide,. 13 feet high, and has six win¬ 
dow openings 4 feet 2 inches by 6 feet 4 
inches. The building has a mechanical heat¬ 
ing and ventilating system. There are seats 
for 48 pupils. 

Write a detailed report giving definite 
information on the following subjects: (a) 
The square feet of floor space per pupil. 

(b) The cubic feet of air space per pupil. 

(c) The ratio of light to floor space, and 
from which direction does the light enter 
the room in the relation to the arrangement 
of the desks? (d) The kind of seats and 
desks in use. (e) The method or system 
of heating and ventilation, (f) The amount 
of fresh air furnished each pupil per hour, 
and how you make the determinations, (g) 
The temperature of the air in the room, ex¬ 
pressed in degrees Fahrenheit, and state at 
what points in the room temperature read¬ 
ings were made, (h) The relative humidity 
of the air in the room, and how determined, 
(i) The amount of CO in the air in the 
room, and state how you made the deter¬ 
mination. 

In a brief summary of the results of your 
inspection, state if the conditions inquired 
into were found to conform to the generally 
accepted standard for a classroom in a mod- 
ernly constructed school building, and, if 
not, point out wherein they differ. 

2. Explain the general principles involved 
in the operation of the following named 
systems of ventilation for buildings: (a) 
Gravity system; (b) plenum or pressure 
system; (c) exhaust or vacuum, and explain 
the relative merits claimed for these sys¬ 
tems. 

3. A three-story public school building 
has twelve classrooms, and an enrollment 
of 450 pupils. All . grades are represented 
from the kindergarten to the eighth. State 
your opinion of where the toilet rooms 
should be located, with what drainage fix¬ 
tures and toilet articles they should be fur¬ 
nished, and how these furnishings should 
be arranged in the room. 

4. From a hygienic point, state the rela¬ 
tive merits of the following named methods 
of artificial lighting for a school room: (a) 


Kerosene lamp; (b) gas light; (c) incan¬ 
descent electric light. 

5. Describe how a school room and its 
contents should be disinfected and cleansed 
following the removal of pupils affected by 
diphtheria, and state what parts of the room 
and articles in the^room should be given 
special attention. 

6. What work other than cleansing and 
disinfection should be done to prevent the 
spread of infection following the occurrence 
of cases of diphtheria among pupils attend¬ 
ing the same classes in school? 


Chicago Civil Service Commission. 
SANITARY INSPECTOR. 

Date: November 26, 1913. 
SPECIAL SUBJECT. 

1. What conditions render a tenement 
house unfit for habitation? 

2. (a) Name three natural forces which 
are destructive to germ life. (b) Name 
three disinfectants in common use. 

3. (a) What is the office of soap as a 
sanitary agent? (b) How may it best be 
applied? 

4. State in detail why a tile or cement 
floor is better’ than a wood floor for the 
cellar of a tenement house. 

5. (a) What surfaces and finish are best 
for the structure of a room in which a bak¬ 
ery is operated? (b) Give your reasons 
in full for the choices you have stated. 

6. (a) Name three principal causes for 
the pollution of the air in an inhabited 
building, (b) Why should the city require 
an air supply to be provided in theaters? 

7. (a) Define a nuisance, (b) Name five 
kinds of nuisances against which the com¬ 
munity should protecf itself. 

8. (a) Name five housing evils common 
in Chicago, (b) Name five results of bad 
housing. 

9. (a) Name the conditions prescribed 
by ordinance for a habitable room in a new 
tenement house, (b) What classes of rooms 
are exempt from these provisions? 

10. What are the causes for the so-called 
stockyards odors., and to what extent-may 
these odors be done away with? 

ARITHMETIC. 

1. The growth of population in a city 
in five years is 20. per cent.; the present 
population is 8,400. What was the.popula¬ 
tion five years ago? 

2. A man sold 78-^4 acres. How much 
land was left if the original lot contained 
165.9 acres? 

3. A man owes a debt of $495. He saves 
$4.95 per week. In what time will he be 
able to pay the debt? 

4. A horse dealer .bought 563 horses at 
$65 a piece; he sold, them so as to make 
$1,126 on the transaction. What did he 
receive per horse? 

38 



5. A bankrupt settled with his creditors 
at the rate of 65 cents on the dollar; what 
did he owe a creditor who received $2,265? 


REPORT AND PENMANSHIP. 

Report on an assumed state of facts in 
an ottice building in which three important 
defects in the plumbing and drainage are 
found, and frame an order requiring the 
remedying of these defects. 

Report on an assumed state of facts in 
a tenement house in which four serious 
sanitary defects occur, and frame an order 
for remedying of these defects. 


EXPERIENCE. 

1. (a) How old are you? (b) In what 
capacity are you now employed? (c) How 
long have you been so employed? (d) Give 
the name and address of your employer, 
(e) If not employed, state where you were 
last employed and the nature of the work 
you did. 

2. (a) What experience, if any, have you 
had in sanitary work? Explain fully, stat¬ 
ing when, where, how long, salary received 
in each place and the kind of work you did. 

3. State a,ny other experience or train¬ 
ing that you may have had that would tend 
to fit you for the position of sanitary in¬ 
spector. 


REPORT WRITING. 


Reports in the Tenement House Depart¬ 
ment, except in special cases, are made 
by filling in the blank spaces on various 
card forms. The cards are ruled off into 
columns, with questions under various 
classifications or headings. After each 
question there is space for a concise an¬ 
swer, such as “y es ” or “no” or for figures. 

There is no resemblance between the of¬ 
ficial reports and the letter required in the 
Report Writing branch at the civil service 
examination. The report at the examina¬ 
tion, while related to the duties of an In¬ 
spector, is intended mainly as an intelli¬ 
gence test. In past examinations for Tene¬ 
ment House Inspector the Report question 
usually has contained a statement of cer¬ 
tain theoretical conditions, the candidate 
being required to write a letter—called Re¬ 
port—on the result of his investigation of 
those conditions. Usually a knowledge of 
law is called for, but the Report may in¬ 
volve anything relating to the duties of 
the position. It does not differ in any es¬ 
sential from any of the other examination 
questions so far as technical knowledge is 
concerned. 

Report Writing has great terrors for 
many candidates who do not realize that 
a civil service examination Report is noth¬ 
ing but a Letter in which the candidate is 
required to express knowledge which he 
ought to possess. 

Many candidates, however, have difficulty 
in presenting the facts in an orderly manner, 
and one of the objects of this branch is to 
test the ability to do that, and to state facts 
concisely. A Report should be regarded as 
a written substitute for a verbal narrative, 
and, for the sake of economy of time, it 
should be more brief than a conversation. 

Date it-. Address it to a proper some¬ 
body, according to the instructions on the 
examination sheet. If there are no instruc¬ 
tions, address it to the Chief Inspector or 
Commissioner. Let the first paragraph 


briefly state the subject, as, for example: 
“Referring to violation at No. 1000 Tenth 
Street, I respectfully report as follows:” 

. Then begin at the beginning by statin* 
that you went there on a certain day. Tell 
what you did and saw. Do this in an or¬ 
derly manner. If you begin with the cel¬ 
lar, work up from the cellar to the roof 
and not jump from cellar to roof and back 
to the cellar, and then to the roof again. 
To avoid jumping about, lay out a frame¬ 
work of the essential things to cover, and 
under each grand division have subdivisions, 
and if necessary under the subdivisions have 
sub-subdivisions. If called for, close with 
recommendations. The recommendations 
should preferably be made in the order in 
which the subjects were dealt with. 

The Reports which follow were devised 
from official cards used in Tenement House 
Department by an Inspector of the De¬ 
partment. In the case of some of the Re¬ 
ports, the answers are filled in as would be 
done on the cards; in other cases, the Re¬ 
ports are presented in letter form. 


GENERAL REPORT. 

Location.seven-story, brick and 

cellar. Owner: Owner recorded in the Bu¬ 
reau of Records, Borough of Manhattan. 
There are 3 apartments on the first floor, 
5 apartments on the second floor, 5 apart¬ 
ments on the third floor, 5 apartments on 
the fourth floor, 5 apartments on the fifth 
floor, 5 apartments on the six floor; total 
28 apartments. 

Garbage Cans. —Suitable. Number: 2. 
Material: metal. Condition: good. Where 
kept: in cellar. Adequate. 

Ash Cans. —Suitable. Number: 2. Ma¬ 
terial: metal. Condition: good. Where 
kept: in cellar. Not adequate. 

House Drain.— Free from obstruction. 
Line and grade: underground. 

39 






Lowest Floor.—Cellar. 

Floor. —Water-tight; concrete; not defec¬ 
tive. Dry. Somewhat dirty. Free from 
rubbish. Good repair. 

Water-closet Compartment in Building.— 
Some rubbish. Dirty. Free from fecal mat¬ 
ter. 

School Sink.— None. 

Vault.— None. 

Cesspool. —None. 

.Inspector. 


RECOMMENDATION FOR VIOLA¬ 
TION REPORT. 

.East.St., 124th District, 

Borough of Manhattan. 

Violation 5467. Date filed, Feb. 5, 190£. 
Inspector, John Doe. 

400. Thoroughly cleanse the front area 
of the above premises, etc. 

403. Remove the accumulation of fecal 
matter from the floors of the water-closets 
in halls on 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 stories of the 
above premises, etc. 

450 and 451. Provide proper and sepa¬ 
rate receptacles for ashes and garbage, etc. 

64. Repair the present defective paving 
of the cellar floor. 

Out Buildings?—None. 

Disinfection Needed?—None. 

Saturated Woodwork?—None. 

General Remarks.—Violation filed. Paint¬ 
ed walls and whitewashed ceilings. Three 
water-closet compartments. Halls 1, 2, 3, 

4, 5, 6, 7 stories dirty. Plaster on walls of 
three water-closet compartments 1, 2, 3, 4, 

5, 6, 7 stories broken and defective. Seat 
broken, middle water-closet compartment, 
third story. 


PROGRESS OF WORK REPORT. 

Date of inspection April 13, date of re- 
inspection April 27: 2d tier beam measure¬ 
ments O. K. Third story walls. Date of 
inspection April 29, reinspection May 18: 
Putting roof on. Date of inspection May 
19, reinspection June 8: Flooring. Not 
working. Measured same. Date of inspec¬ 
tion June 8, reinspection June 29. Studding 
rooms, O. K. Date of inspection June 30, 
reinspection July 20: White coat going on. 
Studs s^et. Measurement O. K. Date of 
inspection July 27, reinspection Aug. 11: 
Finishing up. Plastered. Measurements 
O. K. Date of inspection Aug. 4, reinspec¬ 
tion Aug. 17: Finishing up. Violation filed. 
Date of inspection Aug^ 19, reinspection 
Aug. 31: Apparently completed. Date of 
inspection Sept. 9. Completed and occupied. 
Final report made. 


REPORTS IN LETTER FORM. 

I. 

Date. 

Premises, 

.Cherry St. 

Chief Inspector, Tenement House Dept. 

Sir:—I respectfully report that on the 
above date I personally inspected the prem¬ 
ises herein mentioned, which is 5 stories 
and a cellar. It is arranged to be occupied, 
by four families on each of the floors and 
also the cellar. On the day of inspection 

the following’conditions existed: 

Cellar. —The flooring is of wood laid over 
—earth,-the -walls and floor not being water¬ 
tight. The rooms are very damp. There 
are 16 rooms occupied for living purposes, 
which is contrary to section 95. The ceil¬ 
ing is of plaster, which is broken in many 
—places,--exposing the wooden lathing. The 
walls are very filthy and damp; whitewash¬ 
ing would improve them somewhat. The 
house drain is of earthenware pipe and is 
broken in several places, which permits 
sewerage to leak into and saturate the ad¬ 
joining earth. The soil and waste line are 
connected to the house drain with saddle. 

Yard, Areas, Courts and Shafts.—The 
yard is not graded, paved or drained. The 
walls of court and shafts are dirty and are 
in need of painting or whitewashing. The 
retaining wall at rear of yard is cracked 
and bulging and in need of .repairs. The 
wooden clothes poles in the yard are rotted 
at the base and leaning at a dangerous angle 
and liable to fall at any time. 

Hall and Stairs. —-The paper on walls is 
torn and soiled. The wooden treads and 
risers are in many places split and almost 
worn through. Handrail is very loose; 
many of the standards between treads and 
the handrail are missing. The halls are 
very dark and it is impossible to read with¬ 
out the aid of artificial light. All the doors 
of apartments have wooden panels and no 
transoms. The sinks in the halls are en¬ 
closed in woodwork which is water-soaked*. 
A very disagreeable odor is apparent. The 
door in the bulkhead is locked, shutting off 
egress in case of fire. 

Water-closet Accommodations. —The W. 
C. accommodations consist of a school sink 
located in the yard with 8 seats for 20 fam¬ 
ilies. . The sink is in a foul and unsanitary 
condition, the brick vault broken and cov¬ 
ered with encrustations of fecal matter 
which causes foul odors to emanate. The 
same is a nuisance and menace to health. 

Plumbing and Drainage. —There are im¬ 
proper saddle Y’s .at the connection of the 
sink wastes to main waste lines in halls at 
every story. There are three lengths brok¬ 
en between 1st and 2d stories. The sinks 
in halls, are poorly supported. The cast iron 
soil pipe is used as a leader to drain roof. 
The lead traps of sinks in the halls are 
obstructed. . : . . 










Roof.— The tar and gravel roof leaks at 
several points, the gutter is badly corroded 
and not properly supported. 

Apartments.—On each floor, also in cellar 
there are 8 interior rooms occupied for liv¬ 
ing purposes, which is contrary to section 
73. In most cases the paper on walls and 
ceiling is torn and soiled. 

Fire Escapes.—The rear fire escapes are 
equipped with wood flooring. There is 
not provided a gooseneck ladder to the roof. 
There are no drop ladders for the front 
or rear fire escapes. 

Would recommend immediate action be 
taken in this case, because in the event of 
a fire a great loss of life may be expected, 
and as. the warm weather is approaching 
an epidemic may be started which would be 
a danger to the community. 

Respectfully submitted, . . 

JOHN DOE, 
Insp. No. 60. 


ings on both sides being much higher than 
the one examined. 

I would therefore recommend: 

That the floors of these cellars be con¬ 
creted and made impervious to dampness, 
that the side walls be lined with a damp- 
proof course of brick waterproofed. The 
cellar should be properly graded so as to 
drain any water that may accumulate, the 
drain to be trapped and connected to sewer. 

I would also suggest that the yards be 
thoroughly cleaned, concreted, cemented 
and properly drained. The drain to be 
trapped and cemented to sewer in a proper 
manner. 

Also that the plastering be replaced where 
it has fallen off, and the remaining walls 
and ceiling to be thoroughly scraped and 
cleaned. The whole to be whitewashed, 
kalsomined or painted. 

.... -_ Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN DOE. 


II. 

Date.77. 

Commissioner of Tenements. 

Sir:—I beg to report that on March 29th 
last I personally examined the premises sit¬ 
uated at No.Eleventh ave., and I here¬ 

with respectfully submit the following: 

First. The cellar is damp, not concreted 
and emits a very disagreeable odor. The 
sidewalks of same are covered with a per¬ 
colation. 

Second. The yards are in bad condition, 
being piled high, and for about half their 
surface covered with rubbish of every de¬ 
scription. They have never been concreted 
or properly graded. 

Third. The walls of the living rooms are, 
in many instances, in very bad condition. 
In some places the plaster has fallen off 
leaving the lathes exposed. And the re¬ 
maining plaster is exceedingly dirty, and 
offensive, and on getting close to same a 
disgusting odor is apparent; 

Fourth. The halls are not sufficiently 
lighted nor ventilated, there being no win¬ 
dow to the outer air, sash, door or sky- 
light. 

Fifth. The joints of the soil pipes on the 
second floor, with which the toilet is con¬ 
nected, are defective; the joint of the soil 
pipe is filled with cement, and where the 
connection to the “Y” branch is made, the 
joint is leaded to iron pipe. 

Sixth. The waste pipe for the refrigera¬ 
tors is of wrought iron and connected to 
the sewer drain. 

Seventh. The fire escapes on the top 
floor of the houses are in all cases obstruct¬ 
ed, either with bedding, boards or other 
obstacles. 

Eighth. The chimneys are defective, al¬ 
lowing coal gas and smoke to enter the 
rooms. This I believe is due to the build- 


III. 

-—— Date.. 

Commissioner of Tenements. 

Sir:—In accordance with, your request, 

1 respectfully submit herewith a report of 

my examination of t^e premises situated 
at 726 East.Street: 

This is an old style tenement, basement 
and 3 stories high. As is the case with all 
this style of construction the following de¬ 
fects are present: 

(1) The halls and stair wells are poorly 
lighted, with practically no ventilation. 

(2) In almost every case, .the washtuFs 
are directly in front of the fire escapes, 
making access to these very difficult. 

(3) On the 2d and 3d floors the fire es¬ 
capes are blocked with boxes containing 
plants, etc. 

(4) The bedrooms are so small that hard¬ 
ly enough air is contained therein for the 

2 to 4 people who sleep in them. 

(5) The living rooms are in very bad 
state of repairs, the plaster in many places 
being off so that the lathes can be seen. 

(6) The odor of coal gas is noticeable 
throughout the building; this I traced to 
the defective chimney. 

(7) The cellar floor is very damp and 
should by all means be concreted. In spots 
puddles of water collect, showing the neces¬ 
sity for proper grading. 

(8) Rags, papers, etc., are strewn all over 
the back yard, making this spot not only 
unsanitary but almost an invitation for con¬ 
flagration at any moment; a match careless¬ 
ly thrown from a window would effect this. 

I recommend that these defects be rem¬ 
edied at once. Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN DOE, 
Inspector. 


41 









IV. 

Date. 

Commissioner of Tenements. 

Sir:—I beg to recommend that the follow¬ 
ing defects be remedied at 726 West . 

Street: 

(1) The floors of the cellars should be 
concreted and made impervious to damp¬ 
ness. The side walls should be lined with 
a damproof course of brick or waterproofed. 
The cellar should be properly graded, so 
as to drain any water that may accumu¬ 
late, the drain to be trapped and connected 
to sewer. 

(2) The yards should be thoroughly 
cleaned, concreted, cemented and properly 


drained. The drain to be trapped and ce¬ 
mented to sewer in a proper manner. 

(3) The plastering should be repaired 
where it has fallen off, and the remaining 
walls and ceilings should be thoroughly 
scraped and cleaned. The whole should be 
whitewashed, kalsomined or painted. 

(4) The upper panels of the doors of the 
rooms facing on halls should be taken out 
and replaced by translucent glass, thus 
forming a sash window. A skylight should 
be constructed over stairway with ridge 
and movable louvres ventilators. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN DOE. 


OTHER BOOKS TO STUDY. 


The following books will furnish valuable supplementary instruction for candi¬ 
dates for Sanitary Inspector and Tenement House Inspector: 

Drainage and Venting (Starbuck) ; containing preparation for Board of Health ex¬ 
aminations in question and answer form. Cloth, $1; by mail, $1.05. 

Building Construction for Beginners (Riley); 298 pages, with examination ques¬ 
tions. Cloth, $.60; by mail, $.70. 

Dr. Price’s Handbook cn Sanitation (new edition); 343 pages, with civil service 
examination questions. Cloth, $1.50; by mail, $1.60. 

The foregoing books may be obtained from the Civil Service Chronicle, 23 Duane 
Street, New York. 




42 








PUBLICATIONS OF CIVIL SERVICE CHRONICLE, 23 Duane St., N. Y. 


CIVIL SERVICE BOOKS 


NOTE.—All books sent postpaid unless other¬ 
wise mentioned. For Text Books not specially 
prepared for civil service examinations, but 
suitable for study, write for list of “Text 
Books," 


FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

,P EPT - PROMOTION examination 
INSTRUCTION. For all ranks and bureaus. 
Contains 750 Civil Service Ques. and Ans. and 
1,000 Specimen Questions. 300,000 words of 
mstructicn for Fire Engineer, Fire Lieutenant, 
Fire Captain, Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief, 
Chief, Fire Prevention Inspector, Fire Marshal 
and Asst. Fire Marshal, Fire Alarm Telegraph 
Bureau, Official Instruction of N. Y. Fire Col¬ 
lege and of the Boston Fire Dept., Reports, 
etc. (2d enlarged Ed.), cl., $3.50; pa., $3. 

FIREMAN CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION 
INSTRUCTION. Contains 100,000 words of 
simple instruction. Answers to all previous 
Examination Questions—500 Questions and An¬ 
swers, covering Fire Fighting and Duties— 
Rules of N. Y. Fire Dept.—City, State and 
Federal Government—Arithmetic—Memory Test 
—Reports—First Aid to Injured—Medical and 
Physical Requirements. Pa., $1. 


FIRE DEPT. HYDRAULIC PROBLEMS AND 
HOW TO WORK THEM. Simple Rules and 
Methods of Finding Square Root; Friction Loss 
in Fire Hose, Water Mains, Standpipes and 
Fittings; Nozzle Discharge; Engine and Nozzle 
Pressure; Water Tower Discharge; Height of 
Streams; Pump Slip and Pump Displacement; 
Pump Capacity; Horse-power of Fire Engines; 
Automatic Sprinkler Discharge; Fire Hydrant 
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Examination Problems, etc.; 21 full-page plates. 
Pa., $2. 


FIRE DEPT. MOTOR APPARATUS. De¬ 
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Defects and Cost of Maintenance of Motor 
Pumping Engines, etc. Pa., $1. 


POLICE DEPARTMENT. 

POLICE DEPT. PROMOTION EXAMINA¬ 
TION INSTRUCTION. Contains 175,000 words 
of instruction, 1,000 questions and answers 
(taking in all past examinations up to date) 
for Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and Inspec¬ 
tor; 91 Reports; N. Y. Police College Instruc¬ 
tion. Cl., $3; pa., $2.50. 

HOW TO GET ON THE POLICE FORCE. 

For candidates for Patrolman, Police Matron, 
and Policewoman. Contains 100,000 words of 
simple instruction including: 725 Questions 
and Answers, Arithmetic, Memory Test, Official 
Instruction of the School of Recruits, Official 
Rules of N. Y. Police Dept., Answers to all 
previous New York Examination Questions, Re¬ 
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Federal Government, First Aid to Injured, Re¬ 
quirements; Form of Application. (3d Ed.) 
Pa., $1. 

POLICE SERGEANTS’ CATECHISM. Con¬ 
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York Examinations. Pa., $0.25. 

POLICE LIEUTENANTS' AND CAPTAINS' 
CATECHISM. Contains Answers to 8 sets of 
New York Examination Questions, including 
Inspector. Pa., $0.25. 

THE POLICE PROMOTER. A simple digest 
of all New York laws and ordinances relating 
to Police duty. An invaluable pocket compan¬ 
ion for all ranks. (5th Ed.) Cl., $1.75; mail, 
$1.85. 

POLICE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE. 

(Insp. C. F. Cahalane, N. Y. City Police Dept.) 
241 pp.; illus. Cl., $1.50; mail, $1.63. 

FINGER PRINT INSTRUCTOR, by Sergt. 
Fred. Kuhne, Bur. Crim. Identification, N. Y. 
Police Dept. Based on Henry system; a full 
and clear explanation. 160 pages; profusely 
illustrated. Cl., $2; mail, $2.13. 

CLASSIFICATION AND USES OF FINGER 
PRINTS. (Sir E. R. Henry.) 126 pp.; illus. 
Cl., $1.50; mail, $1.60. 


CLERICAL. 


HANDBOOK OF INSTRUCTION FOR FIRE 
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N. Y. Fire College. Much of the instruction 
is in the form of Questions and Answers. 
Pa., $0.75. 

FIRE ENGINEERS' QUIZZ BOOK. Contains 
225 Questions and Answers, and includes de¬ 
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By capt. W. Benedict Watts. Pa., $0.50. 

STEAM APPARATUS IN USE IN THE N. Y. 
FIRE DEPT. A complete description. Paper, 
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extra; by mail, $1.40. 

FIRE PREVENTION EXAMINATION IN¬ 
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Service Examinations for Fire Prevention In¬ 
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Fire Prevention Laws, Regulations, etc. 90,000 
words of instruction. Pa., $2. 

FIRE ENGINEERS’ VEST POCKET CALCU¬ 
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friction loss, effective reach of streams, and 
enable you to estimate what pressure you need. 
Waterproof; $1. 

TWO PLATOON BRIEF FOR FIREMEN. It 

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two shifts. Pa., $0.50. 


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Penmanship—Report Writing—Copying and 
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City and N. Y. State Government—Spelling- 
Specimen Examination Sheets—In the Examin¬ 
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City—Answers to examination questions and 
snecimen questions'—(2d Ed.). 130,000 words. 

Pa., $1.50. 

POST OFFICE DEPT. EXAMINATION IN¬ 
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Covers Copying from Plain Copy—Letter Writ¬ 
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Answers to examination questions, and 500 
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CIVIL SERVICE MANUAL NO. 1—ARITH¬ 
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mail, $1.10. 

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Spelling—Civil Government. Cl., $1; mail, $1.10. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS IN GEOG¬ 
RAPHY. Specially prepared for Federal First 
Grade Clerical and Railway Mail Examinations. 
Pa., $0.35. 

STENOGRAPHER AND TYPIST. Complete 
manual of preparation for New York, New Jer¬ 
sey and U. S. Civil Service Examinations, by 
Chas. L. Frank, Instructor in Stenographey, 
New York University. Pa., $1; mail, $1.10. 

SIMPLE LESSONS IN PUNCTUATION. 

Gives punctuation in a nutshell. Pa., $0.25. 

SIXTY LESSONS IN BUSINESS ARITHME¬ 
TIC. Suitab e for all clerical grades in the civil 
service. Ccntents: Numbers—Notation and 
Numeration—Addition—Subtraction—Multiplica¬ 
tion—Division—Divisors—Multiples — Cancella¬ 
tion—Fraction—Decimals—Aliquot Parts—Meas¬ 
ures—Denominate Numbers—Time—Percentage 
—Profit and Less—Commission and Brokerage 
—Trade Discount—Insurance—Taxes—Duties or 
Customs—Stocks and Bonds—Domestic Ex¬ 
change—Foreign Exchange—Bills—Common In¬ 
terest—Exact Interest—Problems in Interest— 
Bank Discount—Partial Payments—Equation of 
Accounts—Settlement of Accounts—Current 
Partnership—Ratio and Proportion—Metric Sys¬ 
tem. 83 pp. Cl., $0.50; mail, $0.55. 


CIVIL ENGINEERING. 

INSPECTOR OF BUILDINGS, MASONRY 
AND FOUNDATIONS. Contains 200 Answers 
to Civil Service Examination Questions and 350 
Specimen Examination Questions. Pa., $1. 

INSPECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS. Contains 

200 Answers to Civil Service Examination Ques¬ 
tions and 4o0 Specimen Examination Questions. 
Pa., $1. 

INSPECTOR OF WATER SUPPLY. Contains 

100 Answers to Civil Service Examination Ques¬ 
tions and 200 Specimen Examination Questions. 
Pa., $0.75. 

PUBLIC WORKS INSPECTION. Specially 

prepared for Civil Service Examinations. Covers 
Duties, Methods of Inspection, Reports, Mathe¬ 
matics, Specifications, Formulas. Pa., $1.50. 

RODMAN INSTRUCTION FOR CIVIL SERV¬ 
ICE EXAMINATIONS. (Equally Suitable for 
Junior Engineer.) Contains Answers to 100 
N. Y. State Civil Service Examination Ques¬ 
tions, 350 Specimen Questions for N. Y. City, 
N. Y. State, New Jersey and Chicago, etc. In¬ 
cludes Duties, Surveying, R. R. Curves, Con¬ 
crete Construction, Hydraulics, Mechanics, 
Structures, Derricks, Roads, Vol. Computation, 
Materials, Piles, Trigonometry, Logarithms, 
Tables, etc. Pa., $1.2o. 

AXEMAN. Four Civil Service Examination 
papers. 92 Questions and Answers. Pa., $0.60; 
mail, $0.65. 

CHAINMAN AND RODMAN. Three Civil 
Service Examination papers, 102 Questions and 
Answers. Pa., $0.60; mail, $0.65. 

LEVELER. Six Civil Service Examination 
papers, 88 Questions and Answers. Pa., $0.60; 
mail, $0.65. 

TRANSITMAN AND COMPUTER. Six Civil 

Service Examination papers, 67 Questions and 
Answers. Appendix. Useful formulas. Pa., 
$0.60; mail, $0.65. 

THE SURVEYOR. The above four books in 
cloth in one volume, $2; mail, $2.18. 

DRAFTSMAN AND DRAFTSMAN’S HELPER. 

Eighteen Civil Service Examination papers. 120 
Questions and Answers. Pa., $1; mail, $1.10. 

THE INSPECTOR. Building, Masonry and 
Carpentry, Steel, Regulating, Grading and Pav¬ 
ing. 11 Civil Service Examination papers, 222 
Questions and Answers. Pa., $0.75; mail, $0.85. 

ASSISTANT ENGINEER RAPID TRANSIT 
COMMISSION. 10 Civil Service Examination 
papers, 90 Questions and Answers. Pa., $0.75; 
mail, $0.85. 

ASSISTANT ENGINEER—GENERAL. Aque¬ 
duct Docks, Sewers and Highways. 19 Civil 
Service Examination papers, 218 Questions and 
Answers. Pa., $1.25; mail, $1.35. 

CIVIL ENGINEERING EXAMINATION 
QUESTIONS. 60 specimen papers and 1100 
Civil Service Examination Questions in the 
services of the United States, New York, Buf¬ 
falo, Boston, New Orleans, etc., Cl., $2; mail, 
$2.18. 


LEGAL. 

150 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR CIVIL 
service EXAMINATIONS FOR LAW CLERK. 

Answers to Examination Questions in N. Y. 
City and N. Y. State; Practice Questions and 
Answers; Specimen Examination Questions; 
Definitions; Arithmetic; Letter Writing; Spell¬ 
ing. Pa., $0.75. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR PRO¬ 
CESS SERVER. Answers to Questions asked 
at 5 N. Y. Civil Service Examinations; Practice 
Questions and Answers; Extracts from the N. 
Y. Civil Code, etc. Pa., $0.50. 







PUBLICATIONS OF CIVIL SERVICE CHRONICLE, 23 Duane St., N. Y 


INSPECTORIAL. 

MILK AND FOOD INSPECTOR. 359 Ques. 
and Ans., Reports, etc., on milk, groceries, 
meats, etc., for Civil Service Examinations, and 
221 Rules of N. Y. City Health Dept. 50,000 
words. Pa., $1. 

LICENSE INSPECTOR EXAMINATION IN¬ 
STRUCTION. Contains 100 Ques. and Ans. 
Covering Previous Examinations, Duties, Laws, 
Reports, Forms, etc., and all N. Y. City Laws 
and Ordinances relating to Licenses. 50,000 
words. Pa., $0.50. 

TAXICAB INSPECTOR EXAMINATION IN¬ 
STRUCTION. Contains Ques. and Ans. on 
Duties of Taxicab Inspectors, Descriptions and 
Illustrations of the various types of Meters in 
use in N. Y. City, Rates of Fare, Forms of 
Application for Licenses, Ordinances, Rulers, 
etc. (Illustrated.) Pa., $1. 

INSTRUCTION FOR CIVIL SERVICE EX¬ 
AMINATIONS FOR DOCKMASTER. Answers 
to the previous Examination Questions, Official 
Rules of N. Y. Dock Dept., Instructions to 
Dockmasters, Reports, 100 Practice Questions, 
etc. Pa., $o.50. 

INSPECTOR OF METERS AND WATER 
CONSUMPTION MANUAL. With Ques. and 
Ans. (Illustrated.) Boards, $0.50; mail, $0.55. 

HOW TO REDUCE WATER TAXES; THE 
INSPECTOR. By Jacob Klein, Chief Inspector, 
N. Y. City. (Suitable for Water Meter Inspec¬ 
tors.) Includes Examination Questions and 
Answers. Pa., $0.65. 


ATTENDANT AND CUSTODIAN. 

COURT ATTENDANT EXAMINATION IN¬ 
STRUCTION. Answers to 9 sets of Examina¬ 
tion Questions in the Civil Service of the City 
and State of New York, together with 150 Prac¬ 
tice Questions and Answers; 400 Specimen Ques. 
in the New York City, New York State and 
New Jersey Services for Asst. Court Clerk, 
Deputy Clerk, Special Asst. Deputy Clerk, Dis¬ 
trict Court Clerk, Court Crier and Sergeant-at- 
Arms. Pa., $1. 

PRISON KEEPER EXAMINATION IN¬ 
STRUCTION. Answers to Examination Ques¬ 
tions, 173 Practice Questions and Answers on 
Rules of the N. Y. City Prison and Workhouse, 
and 300 Specimen Examination Questions for 
Keeper, Hall Keeper, Asst. Principal Keeper, 
Principal Keeper, Guard, Female Guard, Woman 
Officer and Matron, N. Y. City, N. Y. State and 
New Jersey. This book is a supplement to 
“Rules and Examination Papers for Prison 
Keeper.’’ Paper, $0.75. 

RULES AND EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR 
PRISON KEEPER. Specimen examination 
questions for N. Y. City, N. Y. State, New 
Jersey and Chicago, for Keeper, Guard, Officer, 
Watchman, Deputy Warden and Police Door¬ 
man; Rules of N. Y. City and N. Y. State 
Prisons. Pa., $0.50. 

INSTRUCTION FOR J AN ITOR-ENGI N EE R. 

Answers to 100 Civil Service Examination Ques¬ 
tions, including Janitor-Engineer, Janitor, Jani¬ 
tor Steam Heating, Stationary Engineer and 
Stationary Engineman; Board of Education In¬ 
struction to Janitors, etc. Pa., $0.75. 

150 QUES. AND ANS. FOR MALE AT¬ 
TENDANT, WATCHMAN, MESSENGER AND 
BRIDGE TENDER in N. Y. City. Pa., $0.50. 

ATTENDANT—MALE AND FEMALE—SUP¬ 
PLEMENT. Contains 150 additional Ques. and 
Ans.; also Regulations for Baths, Beaches, 
Parks and Recreation Piers. Pa., $0.50. 


SOCIAL. 

CHARITY INSPECTOR AND SOCIAL IN¬ 
VESTIGATOR EXAMINATION INSTRUCTION. 

For candidates for Institutional Inspector, Social 
Investigator, Charity Application investigator. 
Inspector State Board of Charities, etc. Con¬ 
tains 1500 Official Inspection Questions and 1000 
Questions and Answers covering all New York 
State Laws relating to charities, past Civil 
Service Examinations, recent reforms in the 
practice of public charity in New York City, 
description of a model orphanage, existing de¬ 
fects in private charitable institutions, etc. 
150,000 words. Pa., $3. 

ATTENDANCE OFFICER EXAMINATION 
INSTRUCTION (TRUANT OFFICER). Con¬ 
tains 450 Ques. and Ans., Reports, Forms, Speci¬ 
men Examination Questions, etc. Pa., $2. 

350 QUES. AND ANS. FOR PROBATION 
OFFICER. Covering Duties, Laws, Reports, 
Answers to Examination Questions and 100 
Specimen Examination Questions in the N. Y. 
City and N. Y. State and New Jersey Services 
for Probation Officer, Chief Probation Officer, 
Parole Agent and Parole Officer. Pa., $2. 


SANITARY AND MEDICAL. 

SANITARY AND TENEMENT HOUSE IN¬ 
SPECTOR EXAMINATION INSTRUCTION. 310 

Ques. and Ans. for Inspector and Chief Inspec¬ 
tor of Tenements and Lay Sanitary Inspector, 
for N. Y. City, New Jersey and Chicago. His¬ 
tory of N. Y. Tenement House Dept., and Ad¬ 
vice to Candidates by Dr. George M. Price. A 
1916 Digest of New York Laws and Ordinances 
governing the regulation of tenements. Amend¬ 
ments to the Tenement House Law from 1912 
to 1916. Practice Ques. and Ans. on Laws and 
Duties by experts of the Tenement House Dept. 
Answers to Civil Service Examination Ques¬ 
tions, and Specimen Questions. Report Writing. 
Pa , $1.25. 

NURSE INSTRUCTION FOR CIVIL SERV¬ 
ICE EXAMINATIONS. Ans. to Examination 
Questions for Nurse; Specimen Questions for 
Nurse; Trained, Hospital, Field, Visiting, Tu¬ 
berculosis, School; Nurse’s Assistant; Head 
Nurse, Supervising Nurse, Assistant Superin¬ 
tendent and Superintendent, for N. Y. City, 
N. Y. State, New Jersey, Chicago and Federal. 
Pa., $0.50. 


GOVERNMENT. 

GOVERNMENT: NEW YORK CITY, NEW 
YORK STATE AND FEDERAL. Specially pre¬ 
pared for Civil Service Examinations. Includes 
200 Ques. and Ans. 45,000 words. Pa., $0.50. 


CIVIL SERVICE CHRONICLE. 

The National Journal of the Civil Service. 
Published weekly at New York. Every issue 
contains Free Instruction for many popular Civil 
Service Examinations, in addition to generally 
covering the field of news of interest to Civil 
Service employes. $2 a year; $1.15 for 6 months; 
60 cents for 3 months; 5 cents a copy. Sample 
free. 



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BOOKS FOR ALL CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS 

The Chronicle has on sale books for all Civil Service Examinations. 

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FREE INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT 

In the Chronicle is published, weekly, instruction for many popular 
examinations. 


FREE INFORMATION BUREAU 


la ihfe Chronicle’s Free Information Bureau are on file Questions 
Asked at all popular Civil Service Examinations; a list of all employes, 
with title of position, salary and residence, in the U. S. Government 
service and the services of the State and City of New York; copies of new 
laws; official reports and other valuable reference matter. All are wel¬ 
come to use the Free Information Bureau. 

Examination questions may be copied, but none will be sent by mail. 
Every issue of the Chronicle is worth the price of a book. 


CIVIL SERVICE CHRONICLE 

23 Duane Street.New York 

5 cents a copy; 60 cents for 3 months; $1.15 for 6 months; $2 a year. 
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